Good afternoon. Let me call the City Council public hearing to order. Today is Monday, June 17, 2024. Let me turn it over to Council Member Freeman for the invocation and pledge of allegiance. Yes, we are. Did you not see the agenda? I have not seen the agenda, my apologies. Let's go to the Lord and prayer. God, we thank you so much for life. We thank you for another day and another opportunity to serve. God, just bless this time. God, just grant us wisdom. Give us clarity of thought. And God, most importantly, allow us to show your love to each other through our conversations. It's in your son Jesus' name, we pray, amen. Please join me in the pledge. I pledge allegiance. I have several announcements. Let me go through these if I can. First of all, Thursday, June 20th is council installation. Council members and their plus one should arrive at no later than 445 and be in the green room. Please plan accordingly for the chambers to be colder than usual due to the crowd we're expected. On Monday, June 24th, there's our annual ethics training. It's mandatory for council members and ECA's. That is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Limwood Roberts Room. Thursday, Tuesday, June 25th, there's our last council meeting before the council break. The last one for me as well. First, the June 26th, the council from Thursday, June 26th to Sunday, July 14th. The council chambers will be closed for maintenance. We're making several changes and I think you'll be pleased with the result there. Okay. Let me recognize Councilmember Randy White now for, well I do my announcements and then we do roll. Well, I do my announcements, it did, we do roll. Thank you, Mr. President. I rise just for some information. I know there is no amendments on any bills tonight, but I think doornails in the green room. I think you'll be coming out here. I've had some conversations today and Thursday I will be offering a amendment. There's been a lot of questions about the CBA and how to get there and what's best for the city. Now I think I've got a solution that will work for most people hopefully and won't get deep into the amendment tonight but I have had conversations with the administration and I'll let Dornell come up and he can he can share what he would like to and that will become in thirsty. You want to From my perspective, you know, another is possible. Some problems with the CBA being connected with some folks that couldn't vote. So I'm basically going to suggest that we take the 56 million and keep it intact. That will be four to five parts to finish them. And then the rest of it, the 94 million will do after the break. I'll form a special committee or maybe we can do it within the committees that we already have and drill down. And then I'd like to also possibly get with the jaguars and see if they add to their money if they would probably put $25 million in for the $56 million to keep up with the parks. But, Narnayla, go a little bit deeper and give you his thoughts and I'll have more to say on Thursday. Thank you. Mr. Smith, would you come forward and respond to that please on behalf of the administration? Thank you, through the chair. First of all, the administration and the Jaguars have worked diligently to make certain that we had the stadium of the deal passed. We've spoken to quite frankly each of you multiple times and want to say thank you for how well we've been received to bring the ideas to make certain that we're sharing with you exactly what we're intending through this legislation and of course to get your thoughts and concerns as well as to answer any of your questions. Recently we have been informed that some council members might have a conflict if they were to vote for 2024 904 stadium of the future in its current form With that we had some conversations with council president doesn't it Randy white and He suggested a possible amendment that will allow for the removal of the conflicts of interest. Any of those conflicts will be removed while we continue to move forward and hopefully pass the stadium deal and any of those items that are not conflicts. With that, we, any item that will be a conflict, will take up an early July. We remain committed to getting the entire stadium of the future approved. And we are comfortable in removing the conflict of interest so that everybody will have the opportunity to vote while allowing at the same time to move forward and do its best for our city. I stand for any questions. If I can just clarify one thing, there may be some remaining conflicts, even just voting on the park portion of this. And I just want to make sure everyone's aware of that. Mary just whispered that in my ear. So I just want to put that on the record. If there are any questions regarding this, I'd like to get to the public hearing fairly quickly, but we'll take a couple of questions if anyone has any. Mr. Carlucci. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have my feelings I want the whole thing to go through together but I want to commend our incoming president on his conversations with Mr. Smith. I think that was a good step. I like seeing that. The last thing I want to say, and I know we want to get public hearing, but the remainder that is not in this bill and taken out, that will be complete in one other bill. That is the intent. Because I just don't want to see this thing get chopped up but I want to see you know people be comfortable going through the process and so I appreciate the administration and our incoming council president that was very statesacement like in my opinion thank you. Mr. Areas. Thank you Mr. President. I just have a question regarding this new proposal. Does that mean that we are not going to vote or making agreement now on the 150 for 150 match? Because I know some of us are not comfortable with that. So are we by doing this are we already agreeing to the 150 to 150? No. If I can speak to that as I understand it, and Mr. Smith please jump in. What this compromise does is on Thursday, and I'll get into this. I want to announce this at the beginning of the meeting because I wanted all the residents that were here to understand what has occurred that a compromise has been reached that I hope we all can rally around which is the $56 million. The Jaguars have fully committed the $100 million and now we will work with them on the $50 million. The second $ 50 million. Correct, but Mr. President, the 56 million, if I'm not mistaken, this is not gonna come from the Jaguars, this is gonna come from the city. Meaning that means that what we talked about earlier was the Jaguars committed to 100 million without us putting any dollars into it. That means now we are committing 56 million dollars into this regardless. So are we voting on that or is that something that we're just- I'm to get into that in just a second? Thank you. If I can that will be introduced as an amendment on Thursday and I'm going to get into the process we're going to use for that. We cannot take any amendments up tonight because there are still questions of people that may be conflicted in this vote. So it's not clear to me as I sit here tonight, who could vote on that and who could not, I don't know what portions. So we're delaying the vote on any amendments until first thing first. If I may, and through the Chair, the Councilman, areas. I think the intent here tonight is to demonstrate our willingness to work closely with the council to make certain that we're removing any conflicts of interest. We understand those things exist. We want to make certain that everybody has the right to vote. How do we work together to remain diligent to do the right thing? This does not commit anyone to anything by simply indicating that we're going to have an amendment later this week. And obviously your vote will be your vote based upon your approval or non-approval of exactly what's brought forward. But this is really signaling that we are working together. Yeah, I'm very pleased. Thank you. I'm very pleased. Thank you. All right. Let me know if you have any questions. We sure will. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Let me just read this. Dude, a possible voting conflict. I've decided to modify Thursday's scheduled meeting. Thursday is currently scheduled as a committee of the whole. We are going to change this meeting to a special council meeting. We will still meet from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. During this special council meeting, I will discharge 2024904 from the committee of the whole pursuant to council rule 2.205 so that we can entertain a motion to carve out that portion of the CBA as we just discussed. Assuming that vote passes, it will be filed as a separate piece of legislation as Council President White is indicating. We will then move to re-refer 2020-2024904 as amended to the Committee the whole on Friday. And that will require a simple majority vote. Upon conclusion of the CBA discussion, we will hear the last three remaining presentations regarding the stadium parking lease and there's a third one that can some development agreement. We will have those three would be my goal to go through those three with all the related questions and then in the meeting at that point so that we can prepare for the installation that evening. We will then come back Friday and address any amendments to the state agreement or potentially other amendments as well. So that's the plan. I think that will work for everyone I hope. And it gets us hopefully out a little bit earlier on Thursday to prepare for the installation and gives us the whole day friday to deal with amendments. Any questions on that? Okay. At this point, I'm going to move through the floor leader. Oh, roll call, excuse me. Roll call. Three people. I'm sorry. Yes. Can I make one other point? I wanted to have this discussion regarding the White Amendment at the beginning of the meeting because I thought it might influence some of the people that are here for the public hearing. So I wanted you to know what Council does, a president White had worked with the administration, so you might modify your comments in some fashion. So that was the purpose of doing this at the beginning. 18, President. Thank you. Good evening, Mr. President. And I'd like to add my welcome to you all. Mr. President, we only have one agenda item this evening for public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on the following bill should complete a speaker card and you will be allowed three minutes to speak. State law requires public hearings. If you provided your address on the form prescribed and don't wish to stay on the microphone then you are permitted to just state that your address is on file. But we encourage you to be more specific. Your location will likely impact the wait given to comments. Council members may obtain the speakers address from the floor leader. All comments should be addressed to the council as a whole and not to any member individually. Failure to complete the form provided including the provision of an address on the form will mean your name will not be called for the public hearing. Madam Secretary please read the bill. 2024-904. Thank you. With the following six individuals please come forward and if you'll sit in the front seats that have been designated on our left- your right and if the first person that I call would come to the podium to be our first speaker that would be appreciated. So those six are John Draper, Doug Delaney, John Parker, Bruce Moe, Daniel Nunn, and Cindy Funkhizer. Mr. Draper, before you start to speak, Council members, we have to maintain a quorum during this public hearing. And that's 14 of us. So please keep that in mind if you have to go into the green room for a reason. Please, please look around and make sure there's 14 people sitting. Thank you. Mr. Draper, if you would state your name and address for the record please. Yes, my name is John Draper. My address is on file. I'm glad that I lived long enough to be able to witness a public official admitting publicly that the original Jaguar lease was terrible for the city. The financing option was terrible. I went to one of the town meetings, and there on the screen, Mr. Weinstein, showed us that, yes, the original lease was terrible because the city paid all the expenses, and the jaguars got all the profit. But I was also glad to see that the new agreement is a lot more equitable. Now, it sounds like the heartburn is with $150 million for county-wide projects, so it might be a good idea to split that out so that other people have a chance to talk about it. Now, I want to give you a brief history lesson on the original Jaguar lease. It was done in the building that doesn't exist anymore, and Councilman Don Davis was Council President at that point, and he, with the help of Councilman Eric Smith, jammed that lease through on an emergency in less than two minutes. No discussion, no amendments. So it caused a lot of animosity. Now, the reason I'm bringing that up is because I want to compliment the Council President. For this time around, he has gone to Great Lent to make sure you have had Council workshops. You have this public hearing and then he has offered the chance for every councilman to propose an amendment and have it fully discussed and voted on And that's important and I'm very glad to see that Now my burning question is still here Is you're about to spend a whole lot of money on this lease and the community projects where are you going to get the billion dollars to build a jail? Now I know that's a question for next year but all of you need to keep that in mind that there is a limit to the amount of money the city can spend. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Mr. Delaney. I'm Doug Delaney. I live in the Mandarin area. Doug Delaney, I live in the Mandarin area. I love football and entertainment, but I oppose spending this much on renovating the stadium. I think we can't afford it and all the other things we need more. Many of us being asked to pay this much, can't afford to attend the events at the stadium. We gave a lot before to build a new stadium in many renovations. Also in 2021, you approved spending We gave a lot before to build a new stadium and many renovations. Also in 2021, you approved spending for over 100 million of our money to give to Shotconda finances, building projects on the old Jacksonville Shipyard's property. I've lived over 50 years and perceived along with many others that the area around the stadium isn't safe. Statistics support this perception. You might say spending this money on this area will make it safer. I don't think criminals care about parks, affordable housing, and other public places the money we'll use to create. I think they will have more opportunity to commit crime and enjoy a more comfortable place to do it. We spent money on him and park and the landing. They are considered unsafe areas. Perception is reality. I watch the landing become a ghost town and then close. It's gone. It's dirt. I think that happened because it wasn't safe. I don't think people with families to protect will feel safe at the stadium area and the public places the money will fund when there aren't events with the large police presence. The Jacksonville Jaguars is just a private football entertainment business. That pays players a lot of money who I think often behave badly and has the goal to maximize profit for ShodCon. I think an example of bad behavior was when many kneeled in protests during our national anthem in London, England in 2017, but stood for God save the Queen. That was a bad place in a way to protest. Remember we had to fight Britain in two wars to get and keep our freedom. The words of our national anthem tell the brave sacrifice Americans made to preserve our freedom and to allow those players to play a game for a living and make millions of dollars. There's nowhere else in the world they can play American football and make that much money. I think they just respect the many Americans who sacrificed God and still keep our freedom. I'm very saddening and concerned that you support these people and are considering a lot more financial help. I hope you don't give them any more money. But since everybody seems to be under the spell of shotgun in the Jaguars, you probably will. But please consider my comments and give them the least amount possible. Thank you. Thank you, next is mr. Parker Want to adjust this a little bit because I'm actually having trouble here at you guys and I know the people at the back probably would have trouble here and Anybody that's standing up here, so I'm gonna be a little more direct my name's John. I live at 9158 Hexford Drive right here in Jacksonville, Florida. Born and raised, 904, new vault to the core. And I say that very proudly. Many of you, I have a relationship with and know on a personal basis. And I'm here tonight this evening to encourage you to make sure that when you get down to the CBA, the community benefit agreement, not to be confused with a collective bargaining agreement, you do what it takes to keep it as intact as you possibly can. Mr. President, Mr. President, ProTIM, I wasn't really prepared for an amendment like you all for it up, but I know it will be done in good faith. I really do. I want this council to understand and consider that we are here to support workforce development. We're here on behalf of the building trades to promote our apprenticeship programs and the apprenticeship programs of contractors throughout the city. And I want you to know it's not a union or non-union thing. There's plenty of contractors that have registered apprenticeship programs that aren't associated with unions. We won't local contractors on the project. And I'm going to tell you I have a different view than the first speaker that came up here. I was around in 92, 93. And I think what we did to get this team is just unmatchable in the history of this city. And whatever we can do right now to keep the team, we need to do. We support what the Jaguars and the Mayor's Office has put forward just the way it is. If there's going to be a move to carve out some portion of that community benefit agreement, then just make sure you understand and appreciate the value of working families and register to apprenticeship here in Jacksonville. With that said, I'm just gonna run you down. I am the former business manager of the Sheetmuller Workers, past president of the building construction trades, both local and statewide, and I still remain as an active member on the state AFL CIO. I appreciate your time, and your willingness to listen and the only thing I'm gonna leave with is that, you know, in 93, I saw decisions made that seem to be a whole lot more bipartisan. And I hope the decisions tonight and going forward won't be made on a partisan basis. Thank you very much. I appreciate your time. Thank you, much. I appreciate your time. Thank you, Mr. Moy. Good afternoon. How my Jacksonville family doing? I'm here on behalf of the I.E.s Brotherhood in the East Side community and I want to speak on the D to upgrade. I, I, I, I, I, I, these corridor, they feel a red enough because my first job was in 1969 at the fair. And through the years selling coke, colds, cotton candy, I've never seen Florida Avenue upgrade. I seen the landed upgraded. I seen a lot of spots, regions of all upgrades. I seen the town center. But all we ask for is a fair chance to upgrade our community so we can stand a chance to compete with Bay Street and anybody else in our community. You know what I'm saying? We've never had an upgrade in 60 years. And all we ask, we, you know what I'm saying we've never had an upgrade to 60 years and all we ask and we you know, I'm saying to give us a chance The make the city says make the city want to come out and hang and let's show to show the love that we can show y'all in our east community that what we feel and we just need an upgrade You know, I'm saying we need to be upgraded to 2024 if we still live a behind times out there and we just want a chance That's all we ask the said to council when you think about A. Philorand, in the artist community, we just want to upgrade. So we can have the state of them just coming down base week, they can make a left turn or right turn and come down A. Philorand, and enjoy a part of the district. Let them show us, give us a chance to show them our hospitality. And basically, that's all we, activists are up great. You know, I'm saying, give us the first shot. That's all we have for, we have to, you know what I'm saying? We don't see the landing get to down and all that. We just wanna change. Basically, that's all we have to do. Thank you, I have to see. Thank you, sir. Would you state your name and address for the record please? Bruce, please. Daniel Nunn, the 301 East Bay Street, and I am proud to- Mr. Nunn, just a second. Just to avoid any confusion, I'm opening this public hearing. If I did not do that earlier. Hardly. Thank you. Daniel Nantriel won East Bay Street. I'm proud to represent the Together East Side Coalition. Behind me, you're gonna see a bunch of people in orange t-shirts that are from the Together East Side Coalition. There's a fellow over here, Paul Hardin, who also claims to be from out east, although I'm not sure they claim him. But I want to tell you a little bit because I think this helps understand history of this city a little bit about some of the remarkable people who've lived out in the East Side. So I'm going to mention some names. Be very quick. A. Philip Randolph. If you don't know who he is, he was a father of the civil rights movement. He organized the March on Washington at which Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his high, I have a dream speech. James Weldon Johnson, he was a writer, a lawyer, an ambassador to two different countries. And he also composed along with his brother, lived every voice and sing, which has now played before every Super Bowl. Willett Bob Hayes, one of my idols as a kid, the fastest man alive, also played with the Dallas Cowboys and won a Super Bowl? Zora Neal Hurston, famous author, maybe some of you read their eyes were watching God in high school or college. Joseph E. Lee, reconstruction attorney, first lawyer admitted to the bar here. Abraham Lincoln Lewis, Florida's first millionaire, formed the Afro-American Life Insurance Company. The honorable Henry Adams, federal judge, many of you probably know him. Earth of white, if you don't know about Earth of white, you should talk to Ms. Pitman because she's got a whole museum along with the Clara White mission. Commissioner Thomas Moore, Commissioner of the U.S. Product Safety Commission for a number of years. All of these people grew up in the east side. Sally Mathis, one of the first women city council persons, I think she was the first black city council person in this city. Luc General Emmett Page. He was. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. Thank you. Billy Daniels. With the first, thank you, sir. With the following individuals, please come forward to the front seats. Don Gilman, Joseph Testy, Terease Wakefield, Mark Wilson, and Darian Roberts. And our next speaker is Cindy Funkhauser. Good afternoon, Cindy Funkhauser, 6-11, East Adam Street. I'm here today in support of 2020-04 in its entirety. And I want to talk specifically about the community benefits agreement, of which I understand is now half of what it was when we walked in today. But I want to say first of all that you obviously know I'm here to talk about homelessness, right? That piece of the community benefits agreement. So I was looking up here and what I recognized is in the last few years, this City Council and your strategic partners out here around homelessness have worked closer together than we ever have before. We had the CQLI, thank you, council member Freeman. We've had recently the new homelessness and affordable housing task force. Thank you, president Salem. And what both of those task forces agreed on is that we have to resolve homelessness. And the way that's done really is through affordable housing. And so we all have worked really hard on that, but the one thing, the one thing that has been the issue and the barrier is the funding. And so what we've also talked about and agreed on is that we need an ongoing source of funding and it needs to be public private. You're being handed that on a silver platter. Basically with this deal, please consider it. I know you've now carved it out, you're going to talk about it later, but this is an amazing opportunity to expand the programs that we know are nationally recognized, the M-Hot program, which I know we're going to talk about next week, was just recognized two weeks ago by the American Psychiatric Association as the most innovative mental health program in the entire country. And our staff presented our Jacksonville M-Hot program to 10,000 psychiatrists from across the country. We are doing great work in Jacksonville around homelessness. We know what works, but the problem is we need ongoing funding. And that is exactly what our friends, the Jaguars, are trying to offer us. So I want to thank them, first of all. I want to thank the Jaguars for stepping up. And I really, really, really hope that all of you will consider this because this is our answer. So thank you for listening. Don Gilman is next please. Don Gilman is next please. Don Gilman, CEO of Changing Homelessness, 532 Riverside Avenue, 3202. I am also here to speak mainly on voting in full for this measure. Changing homelessness and many other partners and eight partner agencies have invested two plus years as Cindy mentioned through various initiatives, the CQL Thy, the task force on homelessness. We have also been working in partnership with the administration on developing a multi-year plan to end homelessness. In each version of the plan, every time it's been clear that to change the trajectory on homelessness we need reoccurring multi-year funding to be able to work through these programs and see a substantial reduction on those who are living on the streets. This is the opportunity our sector has been talking about and hoping for four years. What we can deliver is coordinated, measurable results that will reduce homelessness. We are your trusted partners. When you vote yes, trust us to do the work for you. When we reduce homelessness through the vote on this bill, we will increase our city's tax base. We will decrease the city of Jacksonville expenditures on nuisance arrests, on emergency service calls and ambulance rides and blight reduction expenditures. And we will increase the overall quality of life for all DeVal County citizens. These are all measurable outcomes that you will be able to bring back to your constituents. We are here to help you. We are here to make a better Jacksonville. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Testy, next please. Oh, there's Joe Carcoli-Chi, I was looking for you. I loved your article for Father's Day and the Sunday Times Unit. Oh, sorry, Joseph Testy, my address is on file. I'm a constituent of district seven. I'd like to preface my remarks with a quote from the Bible, Hebrews 13-3. Remember those in prison as though in prison with them, and those are suffer because we all are involved in mankind. I'm going to oppose the stadium bill for now and it's because I don't trust Shod Khan. Now I'm not casting aspersions on his character. I'm just saying he's ignorant. You know, ignorance has nothing to do with character. I'm sure he's an honest upright man, but let me tell you why I think he's ignorant. As I explained Tuesday night in 2020, took his team to London on foreign soil took a need during the national anthem. That was wrong, especially since he was born in Pakistan and he didn't, it was just wrong for Al-Qaeda. He's a citizen, it was wrong. But then, while he's ignorant is, he came back to Jacksonville and immediately started his. But then, while he's ignorant is, he came back to Jacksonville and immediately started his slogan campaign of Duval, Duval, Duval. I hope you become as sick of it as I am. William Pope Duval was Florida's largest trafficker and slaves. He was a Democrat and a slave owner. Andrew He was a Democrat and a slave owner. Andrew Jackson was a Democrat and a slave owner. But the thing that William Pope Duval was Florida's first territorial governor. And he was in 12 years he was our governor. And his number one priority was to grow the state of Florida. All territorial governors, that's what they have to do. You have to meet Washington DC's minimum requirements to achieve statehood. And so one of the ways, perhaps the main way he grew our population was to go to South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, recruiting plantation slave owners to come to Florida to grow our population. This relates to the three-fifth clause of the Constitution. Now a lot of people have a misunderstanding of that. The three-fifth clause was demanded by the abolitionists, because it only had to do with the census, the 10-year census. We had to meet minimum population requirements. And he wanted to grow the population by adding slaves. So the three-fifth clause was actually a good thing and we can be proud of it because the only people who wanted slaves to be counted as whole people were the Democrats, were the slave owners. They wanted the slaves to be counted as whole people so that they could get more congressmen in Florida so they could have more representatives in the census. So, three minutes goes by so fast. So, thank you. It's always a privilege to address this August body. Thank you. Our next speaker is Miss Wakefield. Gamble gamble please. Good evening. My name is Teresa Wakefield gamble. I live in district three, but I was raised in district seven. As a daughter of a 45 year old union worker with the International Loans From Association, East Side of Jacksonville became my second home, because my dad was a long shaman. And I'm standing before you today to remind the city council about the consolidated agreement that you all agreed upon back in 1967. That you was going to address the urban political reform in our community. And there was a lot of promises has been made and we just celebrated 200 years of this consolidation agreement But all the promises have not been kept and I agree with Ms. Fonkhauser that this Jacksonville Jaguars are giving you Our opportunity to fulfill that promise of that agreement to make sure that you get the funding necessary to fix the photo By housing to get our brothers and sisters off the street this homeless, probably not on the fault of their own. To be able to deliver workforce development jobs in this tech driven economy, there's a lot of individuals in Jacksonville are under employed. They can't afford the housing cost here. I just got an email today for a two-bedroom apartment for $1,200. There is impossible for members in Jacksonville to have to be struggling in all of us pay taxes. All of us contribute to this budget that you all are considering. So I as a third generation on preacher's daughter, as a daughter of a loan showman that understand the value of East Side. I mean, that was my father's second home. He was a longshoreman for over 40 years until he passed away. And all the residents of Jacksonville is accent, each of you who never grew up in the East Side, who never lived in the urban core, we cannot continue to have a city of two tales. One side of town is driving and the other side is struggling. But we want Jacksonville. That is not one Jacksonville. One Jacksonville is where everyone is driving in an inclusive community together. And Sean Con and the Jaguars be it y'all personal opinion about him, he is doing his part to help fix a budget problem that our city is constantly communicating about that we don't have the money for. They are giving you the money to fix the problem to keep your promise with this consolidated agreement. So be the latest in gentlemen that you are that we voted for you all to do to serving your seats to fix this problem so we can move on to bigger and better things. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you. I just want to remind everybody I didn't say it earlier but if you could refrain from demonstrations like applause and other things I appreciate your enthusiasm and support but that will help us move quicker. So thank you very much. Yeah, just to reaffirm that public demonstrations are not allowed in the chambers. If that continues, we would have to remove people which we don't want to do. Next speaker is Mark Wilson. Is it Wilson or Will Cox? Okay, we'll move on with the coming forward. Okay. Thank you. Mr. President, Honorable Council members, greetings to you. I'm Mark Will Cox as races on file. Thank you, Mark Wilcox as registered on file. Thank you, sir. And just kind of reiterate what the young lady said. You know, Eastside, the medium income there is 24,000 and some change. The housing value is around 80,000. You know, it's been like that. Since I came here, I'm not original East Side Came here in 97 and what I Effectually say is you know, I call Jacksonville Renderville You know since I've been here. I see so many pitches so many renderers About things that supposed to happen We really want that to happen on the east side We need that to happen on the east side. We need that to happen on the east side. What I would ask is some transparency of what's going on. Just earlier, as we was coming in, it seems to be another amendment about the CBA that we don't know about. We want to kind of understand that. Some transparency and a fair allocation of the funding to go to the east side. Thank you. Thank you, sir. With the following five individuals, please come forward to the front seats. Devori Collins, Dana Miller, Rudy Jamison, Pearl Graham, and Lance Fout, please. And the next speaker is Darian Roberts. Mr. Roberts. All right. Good afternoon. Good evening. This is kind of unexpected, but representing my East Side community and my family as well as the flowids. Would you please state your name and address for the record please? I'm Darian Roberts, 1015 Jesse Street, that's why I was at. Thank you, sir. Yes, sir. For this East Side community, I really don't think it should be like a big debate on choosing to uplift, you know, far as the stadium, not seeing, I love my Jaguars, but as y'all can see, we need to help in the community. We need to be uplifted. You can go to different cities, different states, and they surround in the stadium, is their community. It kinda looks nice kind of looks nice. Kind of look nice. We need to help. We need to help. We need to help. We need to build. Lots of words, but I mean, that's pretty much like just what it is. It shouldn't be a bigger debate on uprisings in the community. Everybody talk about problems in the community, the different violence and things of that nature. I mean, I'm beautiful, beautiful, I'm outside of the city. You know, that would be a big step. You know, give us a chance. You know, if we see beauty, we might live beauty. And we live rough or see rough. Sometimes that's how we're going to live. We're going to live rough. We're going to see rough. The trash, when you see it, don't just throw us out to the wolves. Give us a chance. I mean, we're in the city. We're in the city. We blocks away from the stadium. Y'all talking about building the stadium, why not build the community? You know, it's simple to me, and I'm speaking as a, you know, in the younger generation. You know, I got things that I'm working on far as with the youth and everything, but it's kind of difficult. When we don't get help, when we get looked at, kind of differently, seem like. All this was just off the top of my brain, I didn't think my name was gonna get cold, but I'm glad it did, I'm glad it, but I'm glad to did, you know, I'm glad to do it I'm glad to do it, you know, just to represent but I mean all we asking is help Build us build us build the city build us that's all we need build us you build us your build the community your build a youth That's what we read about the youth y'all read about billion dollar stadium We got a win Thank you, sir, billion oh, oh, I was a time. I thought y'all go. Okay Thank you, sir. Appreciate it next speakers to boring Collins, please I'm going to go to the next floor. I'm going to go to the next floor. I'm going to go to the next floor. I'm going to go to the next floor. I'm going to go to the next floor. I'm going to go to the next floor. I'm going to go to the next floor. I'm going to go to the next floor. Hello. My name is DeVore Collins. My address is on record. I will say that I was born and raised on the East side. I have a huge family that still resides on the East side. Some do not. I was educated in schools from the East side, whether it was John Love, which is now elementary school or Matthew Gilbert, which is now so bad that some educators do not want to work there. And I was bust over to Samuel W. Wilson. However, now being an education, when we have students from the East Side that don't even have a high school in their home or neighborhood high school, in their area anymore, it's disheartening. And when they go to schools and they say, oh, I'm from the East I this, it all has a negative connotation. So what I would ask for the board to do is once you guys decide, please have the kids in mind, so that it's somewhere that they can call home, somewhere that they can be proud of and something that they can look forward to growing up. Stone place that they can look proud of and something that they can look for to run a stone place that they can look for to grow and then be. Thank you. Next is Dana Miller, please. Good afternoon, everyone. My address is on file. I'm Dana Miller. As we know, history is being made right now because this has never happened before, a CBA in Jacksonville and I just want to give God the glory for allowing us to be here and y'all hearing us out as an unclective group from our ease. All of us in our orange we came to represent and become together as a family concerned about our eastside community. I own a business out east. I know what our community need. I stay out by the airport. When I go home at night, I have peace. I have rest. But when I go out east in the morning, my heart goes out to my clients, my neighbors, the people that I serve in that community. They deserve the same thing that I have, that we all have. The council member that can go home, looking your back yard and there's a lake back there. You drive in your plush communities, but you don't want to come out east to see how we're living, how the people are living out there. Then you want to stop a CBA from going forth that will help this community. You know and I know once this bill is pushed to the side and it's not approved it will never happen again. That's why I say it's history. And when you separate it into another bill, it has to go up face other bills that are being trying to be pushed through the council. And about five years, we're in up with a million dollars. That's not fair to the out-east community. And then I hear that they're saying, it's taxpayers, the ones from the beach, Mandarin, Bay Meadows. Oh, it's taxpayers money going into the CBA. What about infrastructure on those side of towns? That's my money too. I'm a taxpayer. So all of the money that's the taxpayer of paying is for the seat of Jacksonville, for the east side, for Bay Mellors, for Mandarin. How can you go out when it door old before it burned down? I went up to look at, I went to open house and I went to the top floor and I looked out over the river, the new stadium that they want to propose to redevelopment. I even looked out over the east side and when I looked out that window, I saw out east where my shop is. And it was sad, it hurt my heart to see that you were developing this area all downtown. And you want to leave this area undeveloped? No. And you know that that money is going to be spreaded out over 30 years, 2.5 million. Tell me what 2.5 million is going to do for a community that's been in despair for over 70 years. 2.5 million, they're not, y'all are not talking about that. Y'all are not talking about the 2.5 million over 30 years. That's one project that can be done. Thank you, sir. Next is Rudy Jamison. next is Rudy Jamison. Good evening. Dr. Rudy Jamison, address on file. I am here in support of the community benefits agreement between the city of Jacksonville, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the outies community. I grew up out east and I was privileged enough to grow up in the same home that my mother and all of her siblings grew up in. At 1407 Franklin Street, I'm in the process of moving back home, building new construction at 1402 Florida Avenue. I support the CBA agreement because of the social, cultural, and economic impact it will have on the city of Jacksonville, particularly the out east neighborhood. As the largest intact historically black community in Florida, situated immediately adjacent to the stadium and the sports and entertainment complex, out east is primed for development. Just as all of us enjoy visiting San Marco, Avondale, the beaches and the town center, imagine out east being a destination neighborhood that benefits everyone in Jacksonville. I'm afraid of what will happen if the CBA is not approved. Will out east become a la Villa, an American beach, or a sugar hill at the beaches? Where residential, business, and social, cultural displacement has disrupted the hopes and possibilities that once lived there. Today in the community, in the Audi's community, the collective leadership, the stakeholder buy-in, the residential and business opportunity, the collective leadership, the public spaces are in place to execute a CBA such as this one. Thank you for your attention and consideration and please support the CBA such as this one. Thank you for your attention and consideration, and please support the CBA. Thank you, sir. Next is Miss Graham. Miss Graham. Good afternoon. I'm Pearl Graham and I'm the owner of the 760 strip on 8th Philip Randolph and I've been out there for 54 years as a business owner and I've seen I've heard a lot of promises that has been made to the east side and I'm hoping that the plans that has been implemented they will go through with what we've been promised. Because I would like to see that homelessness do more for homelessness and the cleanup. So I don't have very much to say, but I've seen some improvement and I thank God for the improvement that I've seen in the fifth and four years. Thank you. I've seen in the pit of four years. Thank you. The following five individuals please come forward to the front seats. Jerome Young, Honey Hose and Dorf, to Sean Williams, Michael Kerwin, and Danny Van Sickle, and our next speaker is Lance Ziffau. and our next speaker is Lance Ziffao. My name is Lance Fao, my address is on record. We showed up here today in support of the CBA to stay intact as it is in the agreement. I understand coming in today that there may be some amendments and everything, but the biggest part of the work is the workforce development part when it comes to apprenticeship programs. And we want to make sure that we have as many local contractors that support apprenticeship programs working on this project. This is going to be the biggest project in the City of Jacksonville has ever seen. And we need to make sure that we have local contractors and people from the community working on those programs. I have to spoke with the mayor's office, spoke with the Jaguars. I will say just this past week we started working on our oil brown school over on the east side there and I was able to put three people from the community on that project. These three people don't have driver's license, but they're able to get to that job. And when they left the office that day, knowing that they had a job, and knowing that they're gonna have insurance when they get eligible, and they're gonna be working towards a pension, that was huge, that's life changing for some of these people. We support the audience. We didn't coordinate our colors tonight, but I'm glad we did. But I will tell you, when you talk about, you know, workforce development, apprenticeship programs and North Florida has been around for over 70 years, we need to build on the programs we have, we don't need to reinvent the wheel. We're here. We know how to train. And when we talk about training, when we talk about apprenticeship, the big difference is it comes with a career, it comes with on the job training, they're learning. That apprentice is going to learn by the journeyman right next to him. He's going to teach the trade to that apprentice. That apprentice is going to become a journeyman. That apprentice now will be a journeyman later and he will pass the trade down to the next generation and moving forward. We're the best kept secret in construction. Apprenticeship programs, registered apprenticeship programs, that's what we need here in Jacksonville. It's not only for this project, it's for the future projects, the jailhouse, hopefully convention center. Building, we spend millions and millions of dollars in tax revenues, grants, but there's never nothing for the construction in on the front end of the project that requires local people working on these projects. If we don't get it in the agreement, it goes to low number. Look, if they can build a, if they can build a stadium for a billion and not the 1.4, they're not going to get the city and the jaguars, the 0.4 back. They're going to pocket the general contractor and they're going to pocket that money. We don't get the savings. We know what the budget is. Our contractors know what the budget is. We can get in budget. We can do the project and we can bring it in on time and under budget. And that goes with all future projects. That is my time. Thank you very much. Thanks, sir. Yeah, please no clapping. Mr. Parker. Mr. Parker. There's no applause allowed. Okay, the next speaker is Jerome Young. I represent over 400 years of heritage here in Jacksonville. My sister owns a daycare center to spend over 40 years. My father was the ice and all man in the community for I'm 70 as long as I was living. And I've supported the CVA. And I just want to make sure that a lot of problems that Jacksonville suffers from right now. I heard one gentleman speak about the unsafety, the safetyness. That's only because people don't have jobs. And with the trade unions being able to provide apprenticeship programs that will train to youth. It's a win, it's a win, win for the city of Jackson go all the way around. I've lived in other cities and I think that they filmed a brand of should be an attainment district like Ebor City is in Tampa Which draws millions of people every year there and If the council sees fit to keep this CB intact, I think we can do the same thing here. Thank you Thank you, sir. Next speaker is Miss Holzendorf, please. Yes, my name is Honey Holzendorf. I am a resident lifetime on the eat, well, my address is on file first of all I was born and raised at DuVal Medical Center that's way back when and I have had a love for my out east community all the days of my life and I look at each one of you elected officials, as we come to you all, pouring out our emotions to all 19 of you. Some of you are looking and listening, some of you are on your phones, y'all doing all kinds of things. And that's saddened me, because we elected you all to represent us. Not making throwing accusations. I'm here on behalf of my community. My community deserves everything that we're accent for. And we're accent for it because we need it. Desperately need what we are accent for. I support the CBA, the BBA, DDA, and any other A that can help my community. Mr. Martin Lamkin, representation for the Jaguars, I support them too because they saw us when I'm not sure if you're not sure if you're not sure if you're not sure. I'm not sure if you're not sure. I'm not sure if you're not sure. I'm not sure if you're not sure. I'm not sure if you're not sure. I'm not sure if you're not sure. I'm not sure if you're not sure. I'm not sure if you're not sure. I'm not sure if you're not sure. I'm familiar with each and everyone of you. And for that, it's a request from me, but I'm a visionary. I see our city being everything that we want. I see our city being everything that we need to be, because if we're bold, we gotta stand up for something or we're far from anything. So for that, take it into consideration, that we're only asking for what we want and we're entitled. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. As a reminder to everyone, please address the City Council as a body, as a whole, and not call out in one individual. Thank you. Thank you very much. The next speaker is DeShawn Williams. DeShawn Williams. Okay, we'll move on to Michael Kerwin, please. Hello. My name is Michael Kerwin. I'm a resident 30507 Riverside Avenue. I'm also president and chair of scenic Jacksonville. I applaud the city and the Jaguars for reaching a deal. A deal that is going to enhance the quality of life here in Jacksonville. I'm delighted that this deal will support our NFL team and the game day experience for members of our community who are able to attend the games at the stadium. However, I'm also delighted that this stadium deal provides for the CBA, the community benefits agreement. Listening to the prior speakers while sitting out here waiting my turn, I've learned a lot and I hope you have too. It sounds to me as if the CBA is valued pretty highly. In fact, you may wish to consider voting on it first before the rest of this stadium deal. The CBA is a portion of the deal that benefits a far wider range of people and will provide the necessary funding for us to complete the river walk and the riverfront parks as well as to improve our east side community. It's this portion of the deal that will help our struggling downtown and yes it is struggling. It's this portion of the deal that'll help complete the city's commitment to swap a portion of metro park for the shipyards to become a park. That deal has happened. It hasn't turned the shipyards into a park yet. That needs to be done. Our downtown Riverfront parks are in various stages of design and planning. This agreement will provide the funding so the Riverwalk and the Riverfront parks will be completed and complete it in a way that we can all enjoy. Let's get this portion of our downtown fixed all enjoy. Let's get this portion of our downtown fixed so it can enhance our quality of life as well as attract and complement private development downtown. Please support the community benefit agreement. Thank you. Thank you. Would the following individuals please come forward to the front seats. Suzanne Pickett, Jacumi Randolph, Erin Randolph, Ken Rolow, and Kenneth Carrington. And our next speaker is Danny Van Sickle, please. I'm here tonight to speak in support of this project as a whole. I'm fortunate enough to be the director of the electrical training lines of Jacksonville. We're the largest electrical apprenticeship in the state of Florida, but I'm also here representing the Jacksonville General Apprenticeship Association. The JGA represents all building trade apprenticeships in Northeast Florida. We have over 800 registered apprentices that are part of all of our programs. And when I say registered, that is the key word registered. We are registered with the Federal Department of Labor that oversee all of our processes. We are registered with the State of Florida Department of Education that audits on a regular basis to make sure we're doing what we're supposed to do. All of our apprentices work for local contractors, Northeast Florida local contractors. And I've heard a lot of great calls that's talked about here tonight homelessness community pride. I want to talk about construction. Think about the amount of jobs this would bring to our community. In the year 2000 we passed a better Jacksonville plan that was over two billion dollars. It's been 24 years since we have had the vision to spend this kind of money on one singular project in this city. Enabling this project will create thousands of construction jobs, good paying construction jobs. Not just that, if you keep it local, then that's more tax-based going back here. With some for more Orlando or Miami or Tampa comes here, they take their money back with them. They don't have roots here. They don't pay school board taxes here. They don't pay property taxes here. We need to make sure that we have apprenticeship language, which helps out local contractors being able to get this work here locally. Our apprentices provide health care. Our apprentices provide pensions. We have higher wages, which in turn lifts up every one that's around it. We hear buzzwords like jobs and apprenticeships and workforce development. Can you find a better workforce development than to build a structure the size of what is in the renderings of this structure? I'm poor you that you cannot. This is a once in a lifetimea-lifetime opportunity. If you look at the money that the Jaguars are willing to give back to the city, you're not going to find that in any other city. I keep up with the news, and I look at what other cities have to give for their stadium. I don't see these other teams willing to give what the Jaguars will and to give to us and I don't see those cities wanting to push this kind of stadium the future like we are here in Jacksonville. I appreciate your time tonight. Thank you very much. Sir, we use a set on the front row. We've got to keep 14 up here but when somebody comes back, Mr. Gay would like to meet you in the green room or set over here somewhere when he goes to the green room. Go over please. Thank you. Next is Suzanne Pickett, please. Good afternoon. My name is Suzanne Pickett. I resided 1105 Phelps Street in Eastside Jacksonville. I have had the privilege of serving as the Chief Executive Officer of the historic Eastside Community Development Corporation for the past 11 years. Today I stand before you with a plea from the depths of my heart to keep the community benefits agreement, the CBA and the Stadium of the Future Deal. In 2018, during a Jaguar game, our church located at 828 Philip Randolph Boulevard became the scene of chaos and terror. Gunshots echoed through the air, shattering the peace. Men, women, children, and seniors scattered, diving to the ground and fear. A gunman drove down our corridor, spraying bullets with no regard for the innocent lives walking toward the stadium. Five people were injured and one life was tragically lost. Some of the victims were simply trying to enjoy a football game. This was not an isolated incident. I'll be loving a Philip Randolph Boulevard. Just three blocks from the sports entertainment district has witnessed over a dozen shootings with fatalities. Our cultural center located at 920, a Philip Randolph Boulevard in Jesse Street, and the city of the city. We have a lot of different things to do with the city. We have a lot of different things to do with the city. We have a lot of different things to do with the city. We have a lot of different things to do with the city. We have a lot of different things to do with the city. We have a lot of different things to do with the city. We have a lot of different things to do with the city. We have a lot of different things of game attendees parking aside due to its proximity, yet our community remains neglected, overlooked, and underfunded. On game days, we see police officer station on every corner, a temporary fix for a very deep rooted issue. This funding can be used more effectively with the real investment in our commercial corridor. Including the CBA and the stadium deal is not just about improvement of our neighborhoods. the city's crime statistics show a clear link between lack of investment in our areas and low income areas and rising criminal activity. The A. Philip Randolph commercial corridor has seen no significant investment for over five decades, except for minor street scaleings in 2005 for the Super Bowl. An investment in Eastside is an investment in our people, our city, and our future. Revitalizing Eastside could transform it into a vibrant hub for entertainment, complementing the stadium of the future deal, and the riverfront plans. The return on the financial investment would be immense, not just in monetary terms, but in the lives it was saved, and the hope it would restore until not only east side, but all communities. I have attached media articles detailing the numerous shootings along the corridor. Please do not let our cries for help go and heard. Include the CBA into the Statement of the Future Agreement and be a part of change that briefs life back into our communities. Thank you. Thank you. Jekumi Randolph, please. Good evening. My name is Jekumi Randolph. I'm going to go to the good evening. My name is Jacumi Randolph. I live at 620 Odessa Street on the east side. I am in support of the CBA. In this agreement. The CBA supports the growth of the east side. It includes key opportunities to enhance our overall well being. Through housing, infrastructure, amenities, development, and other resources. The goal is to ensure that Eastside is here for our children, not to just live, but also to thrive, right? Not to just thrive now, but for generations to come. Our community in our area is not an area of criminals. It is a community of hardworking people. We're not just hardworking people, we're also your gracious host. We host the largest events that this city sees, whether it's football games, whether it's concerts, we're your gracious host. We expect to be treated where we expect. Now's the time for action. It's up to you to include this CBA into the agreement. It's time to write some previous wrongs from some previous administrations. I want all of you to be the fire that likes to torch on the east side. It's our time to shine. Thank you. Thank you, sir. The next speaker is Arian Randolph, please. Greetings. My name is Ariane Randolph. My address is 620 Odessa Street, 3206. On behalf of the Randolph family, I express our strong support for the proposed stadium deal package, including the community benefit agreement. As a fourth generation resident of the historic East Side, I have seen our city grow and believe it is crucial to ensure this progress benefits all community members equitably. I urge you to vote in favor of the stadium deal package and the CBA, especially considering its proximity to the Jaguar stadium. This package represents a decisive step toward building a thriving fair and just city. Supporting it demonstrates a commitment to equity and inclusivity and sustainability. As it devoted wife, mother, and advocate for responsible sustainable growth, I live in the historic east side with the purpose. Our community deserves intentional development that promotes wealth building and responsible growth. This statement affirms our full support for the Jaguar Stadium package, including the CBA. If amendments are necessary, they should truly benefit the historic east side, which it benefits the entire city. Equity is key, and this deal with the CBA ensures a meaningful contributions to the community, enhancing affordable housing, job opportunities, and essential services. A CBA, Fosters and Inclusive Equitable Community and Strengthens Relationships between residents, the jaguars, and the city officials. It involves the community and planning and creating shared responsibility for our city's future, including the CBA sets a model for sustainable, responsible development, prioritizing long-term community well-being alongside economic interests. In particular, this investment leverages ongoing efforts in the historic east side recently added to the national register of historic places. It continues the momentum in one of the largest intact black communities on the registry. Thank you for your time and consideration. Together I know we can create a brighter future for our city. Thank you. Mr. Grolin, I know we can create a brighter future for our city. Thank you. Mr. Grohlau, I believe. Ken? Sorry, by Ms. Bernascher last name. Good evening. My name's Kenneth Cudvington. I'm here in support of the community benefits agreement for the 150 million that's been stated in previous publications. Also just wanted to- You're right, Chris, excuse me. 50, 98 Johnson Creek Drive 3218. Thank you, sir. Want to just go along and acknowledge all the great things that have been said about Audi's and what the benefits agreement will do for it. But also want it to make a comment to the extent that we're talking about a billion for deal and asking for 150 million for the community. And this 150 for the community, which has been overdue and should have been done a long time ago, would not even come up if it was not for the stadium deal. And as talk I've heard about separating and doing it later is another joke because if you were going to do something later you would have did it previously. There's no real concern to do what needs to be done for that community. It's also very interesting that whenever there is a limit to what funds are available to get something done, the shortcomings is always to the detriment of African American communities. That's historical. I mean, most of you old enough to know the history of Jacksonville, and there's much documentation to explain it to you if you don't know it's something about it. The consolidation agreement that was talked about earlier, that's reality, it's documented. There were promises made, they were not kept. There are tons of promises that have been made to African-American communities. That's the biggest concern. When we talk East Jacksonville, that's a lot of what we're talking about. And it's very interesting that when we talk about doing something for the African-American community to any substantial amount, that's when some of us get hard-burned about maybe with too much money for that particular area. In that particular area, there's an area that is populated by majority African-Americans. It's just a historical repeat of what's going on in Jacksonville years and years. This is the time, as we'll say, and this is the time we can start changing things. If we make, we do something good here, this bodes well for Jacksonville nationally from a publicity standpoint. To talk about what Jacksonville is not doing for, people who are in need is not a good look. To talk about the good things that you do goes along ways. And I just end with, if we get a better east side, you'll have a better Jacksonville. Thank you. Thank you, sir. For the following individuals, please come forward to the front seats. La Shonda Holloway, Travis Williams, Ryan Delaney, for any stallings. Matthew Herkis, Reverend Dr. McKee Jr. And I'll try this again. Our next speaker is Ken Grilow, GROLEAU on Horseshoe Trail? Is he here? Okay, we'll move forward to La Shanda. Holloway, please. Right here. Travis Williams? Yes, sir, please, go ahead. Thank you. Good afternoon. You're in the green room, I'm sorry. I don't know that. Yeah, Travis Williams, 10 I'm sorry. Yeah. Travis Williams, 10640 Grayson Court. Thank you guys for the opportunity. A lot of that has been shared about the historic east side. I'm a fourth generation east side. My family is called the neighborhood home for 100 years. So it runs deep in my blood. And you've heard a lot about some of the parts of the neighborhood. But what I want to focus my commentary on is the proximity of the East Side. And I like to send an invitation to each and every one of you guys to come tour the East Side with us. A lot of times folks don't realize how close this neighborhood is to the stadium district. If my grandfather was still here, he would say son, that stadium is in our neighborhood. It is not close to our neighborhood. He would say he attended a school, Van Buren Street, elementary, that was basically in that district we were talking about before the highway was built. When we look at the history of our city and some of the neighborhoods that were mentioned here previously, neighbors that no longer exist. Neighbors like LaVilla. Neighborhoods like Brooklyn. When I grew up in Brooklyn, most of the kids that ran around look like me. Neighborhoods like Sugar Hill that no longer exist. Many of these neighborhoods, the downfall of these neighborhoods, was massive development and not just massive development by itself, but massive development that did not complement the development with investments to stop the negative impacts of development. Whether it was a highway being built through urban renewal or other massive construction, these historic neighborhoods were impacted by proximate development. We've worked very closely with the Jaguars and the Mayor's Office to make sure that all the potentially negative impacts that could come from development do not hinder the east side. This is the largest intact historic neighborhood in the state of Florida. I repeat the east side is the largest intact historic African American neighborhood on the National Register. This isn't just about need however, there are many neighborhoods I look across your colleagues and see neighborhoods representing neighborhoods have need. But the difference is there is no other neighborhood that is literally a footballs throw away from the stadium. Development impacts proximity. As a kid, I couldn't afford to go to games. I stepped into my backyard and I listened to the play by play for my backyard. Development impacts proximity. We are not here just because there's a need. We are here because this stadium is in our backyard. And we're asking this council, which I am very hopeful of, will not repeat the errors of past councils who did not equip under-privileged communities with the tools they needed to mitigate the potential risks. The jacks have set at the table with us. The mayor has set at the table with us. I believe the East Side in 30 years will continue to be the largest intact historic neighborhood. But in order for that to happen, we need every one of you to support us and part with us. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Ms. Holloway, please. Good evening, council. My name is LaShonda L.J. Holloway and my address appears on file. As I stated, my name is LaShonda Holloway and my address appears on file. As I stated, my name is LaShine to Holloway. However, I am here for the people. I stand as a community stakeholder in support of the people. Not only in support of the people of Jacksonville, but in particular, the people out east. In addition to the Jacksonville Jaguars, and I also stand as a proud member of the International Longshoreman Association, which is ILA-1408, and is also out east. In support of the community benefit agreement. I implore each and every one of you to keep the CBA as a part of 20204-904, which is on the east side. The people are in support of the stadium of the future with the community benefit agreement. Workforce development, registered apprenticeship programs, infrastructure and minority set-asides are what the people deserve. As a taxpayer, it is not fair to use taxpayer dollars and vote to amend the CBA. The residents out east deserve transparency and equity. Along with the memorandum of understanding with the CBA, we need an MOU so that you don't play the games that you played in the past with the better Jacksonville plan, and the people get the shaft again. Consistent with the name of the corridor that leads to the stadium and is named for the father of labor, a Philip Randolph, we need to make sure that we use local labor with this $1.4 billion deal. with this $1.4 billion deal. With the registered apprentice, as well, it will provide jobs to people from the community. It will strengthen the economy of the city by recycling dollars in the community, as well as strengthen the tax base. And some, the funding for the community benefit agreement must remain a part of the 2024-904. We all know what happened. Don't let history repeat itself. Let the people see the future, not just the stadium of the future, but the future that includes the people out east getting the equity that they so deserve. Again, my name is LaShonda L.J. Holloway. I support the people out east, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the CBA. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Delaney. My name is Ryan Delaney, my address is on file. I believe that the bill needs to be amended to include guarantees for the project to exclusively utilize registered apprenticeships for all labor that that can be done for. We also need local labor labor leaders at the table that will ensure it's done right. If we don't, I really think that the corporate and government bodies that have decided to already put the bill for a billionaire are just going to drag this project out. And eventually we're going to see you guys coming back asking for more money for this project. And so we need those local labor leaders to ensure that this is a smooth operation. So we need those local labor leaders to ensure that this is a smooth operation. I also want to 100% unite with what out east is asking for. They're completely correct and they're demands for a CBA and transparency in the funding. The economic disparity that is seen out east is criminal. It's something that absolutely has to be addressed. And this is not the first time that City Council has heard these kind of demands. I mean, the red alliance has been coming to speak to you guys about economic disparity since last year. And so far, the only thing that you guys have been able to do for them is basically to pass a rhetorical bill that just acknowledges that the problem exists, right? And so the CBA needs to be included as part of this bill because there's a historic amount of low confidence that this body will do something substantial with an independent bill if you separate it from the legislation that we're here to talk about today. You know, I know it's kind of out of character for this body to listen. When you have an overwhelming majority of people coming to speak to you and we're all uniting and all saying basically the same thing. But let's try it one time. Let's get this done together. Please support registered apprenticeships and please include the CBA in this bill. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Next speaker is Brandy Stalin's. Brandy Stalin's. Okay, we'll move on to, I believe it's Matthew Hargas. It's Matthew Hargis. My name is Matthew Hargis. Address on file. So my message tonight is for support of the CBA. We the community support and encourage the council to pass the community benefit and agreement in the stadium deal. We the community support workforce development by building and existing apprenticeship programs, the mayor and the jaguars behind workforce development, and apprenticeship, the council should be also. We have the community, local contractors and taxpayers all support the CBA. We want to register apprentices working on City funded projects. We also want the council to stand up for the working people in our community. That's all. Thank you. Thank you, sir. With the following individuals, please come forward to the front seats. Mike Zephrony. Shane Tremblay, Sarah Amoud, Sarah Amoud, Monica Gold, and William Harrell. And our next speaker is Reverend Dr. McKee, Jr., please. Good evening. My name is Reverend Dr. Christopher McKee Jr. Dress on file. I stand tonight as the proud pastor, the proud eighth senior leader of the first Baptist Church of Oakland, a historic congregation located out east, which has done ministry, transformational ministry for almost the last 145 years. Part of the reason why we're here tonight, not just as residents of the East side, but worshipers and business owners and nonprofit leaders and institutional leaders, is because we absolutely want to see this move forward with the community benefits agreement intact. Here's the reality. We have watched this community struggle not only for the last several years, but decades. In fact, it is the congregation that I have the privilege of leading under the leadership of our great predecessor, Reverend Dr. C.B. Daley, who stepped out decades ago to do the work of community reinvestment of building homes to bring back dignity and worth to this neighborhood. And this is another opportunity, another historic moment to ensure that resources go to this community. We know it's not just the case in our city, it is the case in many cities across this country that historic African American neighborhoods, which are close to downtown development, often do not get the just due by way of infrastructure, housing, job opportunity, mixed income housing that's due to the people in those particular communities. So I implore you, let's be on the right side of history. Let's do what's going to benefit not only out east but the entire city. Let's allow this historic CBA to be a model for what can be done and what we call the mosaic of Jacksonville. A community that benefits all not just some and we are excited about the future that can take place within our community as investments, as funds, as opportunities are poured into a much needed part of our city. Thank you for the opportunity to give commentary on tonight. Thank you, sir. Next is Mike Zeperoni, please. Good evening members of the council. Thanks for having me this evening. My name is Mike Zafferoni. My address is on file. I am here with you this evening as the chair of the Jack Chamber Government Affairs Committee and a Jacksonville Small Business Center. And I think as many of you are already aware that Jack's Chamber Board of Directors did vote in favor of a resolution supporting the deal as it was originally written. We do believe, including the CBA, we do believe that including the community investment part of the agreement is critically important to ensuring all of Jack's and bill benefits from the agreement. The Jaguars and the sports entertainment district are an important part of our business community, both large and small. The investment workforce development and affordable housing will have generational benefits for the city that will keep us competitive with our peers when we're attracting other businesses to Jacksonville. And the investment in downtown parks projects will finally help change the face of downtown and support other development projects that are here in Jacksonville. So again, thank you for your time this evening and we wish you the best. Thank you, sir. The next speaker is Shane Tremblay, please. Good evening. Change of assembly and address on file. This past May, I completed my fourth year of apprenticeship with the electrical training alliance of Jacksonville, a registered apprenticeship here in the city. This time next year, given my last year goes well, I will be a journeyman electrician. I tell people all the time that starting this apprenticeship was the best decision I've ever made. Registered apprenticeships such as the Alliance serve an incredibly important role in our community. They provide paths to great careers, which in this job market is as crucial as ever. They also facilitate the passing down of the skills and knowledge and training needed to physically build the city around us, including a new stadium. I support the CBA and I'm excited for the construction to start on this massive project. Heck, I'd be proud to have a hand in that construction. What would make me more excited is knowing that the lion's share of that labor will go to our local workforce and utilize registered apprenticeship programs for that labor. The stadium is a massive investment and we need to make sure we maximize our return on that investment. We have the opportunity to put our local labor force to work and to bolster and even expand our Registered apprenticeship programs. The amount of jobs we can create careers we can start in Lives we can change is massive and I'd hate to see that opportunity squandered. I don't see any value in waiting for the budget for this matter. If you support the registered apprenticeships of Jacksonville and our local labor force, let's see that in the agreement. I yield my time. Thank you, sir. Next is Siram Mahmoud, please. Good evening, City Council. My name is Saadar Mahmoud and my address is on file. I'm a proud resident. I am Jackson Mahmoud, born and raised in Duval County. And I'm just here to echo community members' support of the community benefits agreement and our deal with the Jaguars. I think with the deal as large as this, it would be an intentional decision to leave our East Side community and working class folks behind as our city continues to develop all of this benefit for more investment in our historically neglected neighborhoods and from an investment in workforce development by graining contracts or registered apprenticeships. And on the flip-flip side development that is as another speaker said, on the flip-flip side development that is brought into the city that does not consider our most neglected communities is just going to exasperate those that neglect and exasperate the tale of two cities in Jacksonville. Jacksonville is a beautiful city that I'm pleased to call home. And it's thanks to communities like the historically black community, out east and the folks whose labor builds our city. That makes it so beautiful. And when we invest in our communities, we all can benefit. So please support the CPA. I yield the rest of my time. Thank you. Thank you. Monica Gould, please. Hello, my name is Monica Gold. My address is on file. I'm a public school teacher in Duval, and I want to speak in support of the community benefits agreement. We're aware of the unkempt promises that were made in the last stadium deal. There are generations in this city that were harmed and left behind by that last deal and are still hurting because of it. I want to echo the sentiments of the community members and business owners on the east side. The fact that we even have to come out and clear with you all is an unfortunate representation of how things operate in Jacksonville at this time. I also want to echo the sentiments shared by the building trades tonight. Local workers should be working on local projects. Apprenticeship programs are an integral part of our city's workforce development. As a teacher, I want my students to be able to have good future jobs that serve our communities, and that's what these registered apprenticeship programs do. So I want to see them prioritize in the project and every project moving forward. I believe the CBA needs to be approved before anything else is agreed to concerning this stadium, and know that we will be out here and even larger numbers if we see city leaders doing with the stadium deal what they did with the last stadium deal. Thank you. Thank you. With the following fiveick, please. And our next speaker is William Harrell. Thank you. My name is William Harrell. My address is on file. I'm here representing myself. It's been an interesting education. Frankly, sit out there and look at the uniform support from the East community, East Island community for this. I would like to abbreviate my remarks and just say that I'd like to repeat what Mr. Michael Kerwin said a few moments ago. My addition would be I'd like to remind you I addressed this body in December of 2022 when the USS Orlick was being required to depart downtown Jacksonville and go to the West Shipyard at Pier 1. The time the DA, the DA executive is assured everyone, including this body, and there were many questions asked by many of you that were here at the time. That phase 1 of the shipyard west would be expedited, and the ship was not being sent to the hellhole that I described it in December. If you, a number of you have been aboard the ship since, as again I'm not on their board, I'm just an avid supporter of that organization and I believe you'll agree they've done a commendable job of making the ship usable. There's 25 to 30,000 people here visiting the ship. The problem is we phase one, which is gonna be completed by December of 2024, as best described as a dirt parking lot. There's no hope that the commitments made by the DIA that were part of what helped deliver the assurances to this body, that there was, you could send the ship to that facility, and there would be phase one of that part completed by December of 2024. I mean, support of the CBA being included. I hope you will recognize the parks are not controversial. Let's fund the parks, get the buildings out of the parks. But we need the city to do what it committed, the CIA do, what it committed to do 18 months ago, and get that park built. Thank you for your time and thank you for your support. Thank you, sir. Next is Curlett Liner, please. Hello, my name is Curlett Liner. My address is 1303 Van Berenstreet. I've been at East Side of all my life. My mother has been out there over 50 years. I'm here to support the CBA because to build the stadium up and the flex field in downtown and the ports and everything else around there and leave our East looking like the mud is a disservice to the area and everybody who's coming through the mud to go to the beautiful stadium that they are planning on building. So I say that with you all, blessings, it'll be a benefit for us all to improve everything. I mean a tree here, a bush there, some good streets, some good plumbing, it's not that much. And the part that they come to for the East Side is how much. 2.5 million in 30 years, that's what? 70,000 a year, we make more than that at work. So it's not a lot, a lot of money when you think about it, but it'll be a lot benefit for the area. And unlike some people, East Side is not just a bunch of criminals out there. We are hardworking people. We have jobs and we all pay taxes. So that's all I have to say and thank you. Thank you very much. Jack Meeks is next please. Jack Meeks, 12 out of 6 Hubbard Street, historic spring field. So my wife and I live just a few blocks from historic Eastside. I'm going to ask you as council folks to consider doing three things. And I'm going to be speaking from documents that I've sent you previously. I'm going to ask you to consider doing three things. I'm going to be speaking from council folks to consider doing three things. And I would be speaking from documents that I've sent you previously via emails and one additional document. And I'm going to hand those out again tonight in case I've heard your emails or someone complicated to get. So the three things are as follows. First, I'd like to ask you to do what I proposed or something similar to it, which is a five-year analysis of budget projection of what this means, what the stadium deal means to our city in terms of effects on the balance sheet, the income statement or cash flows, both with and without the stadium deal. And I was going to read just a couple of lines from an article I got recently. I'm perhaps somebody you get the economist magazine I've gotten in I guess for about 35 years. So this was in a recent article I thought was apropos and it's consistent with what I've read before in various articles. It says, field of dreams, a new way of a new way of a stadium building is busting budgets in America. The economics of all parks are lousy, but politicians can't resist subsidizing them. So I think it's imperative to us to understand what this really means to our city's finances. I'll read you a little bit at the end of this. Even if the economics of stadiums leave much to be desired, local governments clearly see value in them. Partly that stems from financial engineering. The root of the problem is fandom itself. Local politicians craving re-election and not want to be known for presiding over the exodus of the city's beloved team. Kansas City recently voted 60% not to have a sales tax to fund their two stadiums. So again, my emphasis on this is we ought to know the numbers as to what this really does to our finances, to our city finances. The second thing I want to mention is the CBA this discussed. There's been, I read a whole bunch of articles that treat the city's contribution, which is over a short period of time, depending on what you now do about that, with the Jaguars contribution, which is 30 years at five million a year, as if those were equivalent. Well, I'd like to see it be equivalent. If the city's going to put money in over four years, perhaps the Jaguars could do that too. Certainly though, everybody understands that a dollar today is worth more than a dollar a year from now or five years from now or ten years from now. So in rough numbers or approximate numbers, if I use a 7% discount rate, then 5 million at 30 years is actually. Well, I run out of time. Thanks, sir. Go ahead and say the number if you want to say it. Oh, at 7%, 5 million a year for 30 years is actually about 70 million. If I do it at 10%, it's really about 50 million. Okay, thank you, sir. Next is Madam Kaye. Good evening. My name is Madam Kaye. I don't have an address to offer you. I think that you guys should see this is very a vital opportunity for City of Jacksonville because we're ranked number one as the worst vacations. But we're ranked number five in the top five as the highest homeless rate. And a lot of things when you're coming to Jacksonville to the stadium, the neighborhood is the east side. So of course it needs improvement. And there's a lot of areas of jacks of good and needs improvement as well. But this is like layers of something that jacks of the city needs to take in consideration when you're using its money. Make sure you use the money wisely. Because when it comes to like the homeless rate in order for that to be addressed, you have to deal with the court system as well. Because it takes a toll when you have a lot of these rental properties that are coming in and filing lawsuit claims for evictions. That calls the homeless rate to go up as well. And when you're coming into the downtown area, it has a stench smell. There's homeless people everywhere. They're laying everywhere. They have no more or more of what they're doing. And it draws a bad reputation for Jacksonville. And we get a lot of negativity when you have people coming in, doing football season, and they see our environment. And really the east side needs, needs improvement because that's the route to the stadium. And when you're coming into the city of Jacksonville, that's all you see, it's homeless people everywhere. They're not only taking it over downtown, they're taking over the woods. And I just wanted to add that you that you do take this opportunity to self and use that money wisely and for whatever purpose it does it benefits to improve the city of Jaxfield. Thank you. Thank you. Next is King Black please. Good day elected officials. I'm Kim Black. My address is on record. I've come to talk about behavioral patterns. I'm a proud third generation native, a pattern, with two generations to date behind me here in DuVong. I am passionate about my city and my community. As a historically red line community, out east is considered hallowed ground. Thus the designation and distinction by the National Register of historic places as the largest historically intact black American community in Florida. This is something we can all be proud of. So why not invest in it as much as you can. Once you live long enough and you are observant, one begins to notice patterns. The purpose of a community benefit agreement is to shape how local development projects contribute to improving the quality of life of nearby residents. Residents that are in close proximity to the local development project, not neighborhoods that are not directly impacted, but also have financial need. The express concern about overspending is egregious, particularly regarding a historically redlined community. Let's understand what being historically red line means. Red lining is a discriminatory practice in which financial services are with health from neighborhoods that have significant numbers of racial and ethnic minorities. They literally took red ink and created boundaries on maps as a warning to mortgage lenders. Thus effectively isolating black people in areas that would suffer lower levels of investment than their white counterparts. Resulting in black Americans being robbed of the ability to create generational wealth under redlining's legal discriminatory policy. Why is it necessary to have CBA, a portion of the stadium deal? Why is it necessary to have it included in bill number 2024-904? Because there's a pattern of Duval County not keeping its word to the black community. to the black community. There may be a fact that some council members want the CBA separated is a giant red flag. The contract is necessary so that we are not manipulated by your words. Words we know are subject to change once you get what you want, which is exactly what happened 30 years ago when we welcome the Jaguars to our city and to our community. Uncapped promises were made. See the patterns. Thank you, ma'am. With the following individuals, please come forward to the front seats. Reverend Dr. Lee Roy Gundy. Dawn Curling, Tom McGuire, Cindy Cory, Phil Hoff, and our next speaker is Joanne Trednick, please. Mr. Trednick. Yes, please. Good evening, Joanne Trednic, 1206 Hubbard Street. I do not support or oppose the community benefits agreement. What I do support is investing in our long neglected neighborhoods in different areas of Jacksonville, so that we don't have a tale of two cities. And I do support presenting the proposed community benefit agreement, whatever it might look like, accurately, honestly, and with full financial transparency to the taxpayers. What I'm often seeing in the media, and even hearing from some leaders, actually business leaders, is that the jaguars are matching the city's contribution. They're not. If the city is contributing $150 million in the first couple of years, and the jaguars are contributing $5 million a year over 30 years, Jack meets just explained, discount rates. That's not the same contribution. Maybe that's what's intended, but this is misleading. It's not true and accurate, transparent, financial reporting needs to be made to the taxpayers. So we understand exactly what the Jaguars are contributing and that we have full understanding of that. One way to fix this is ask the Jaguars to contribute on the same schedule as the city. Otherwise, let's publicize what they actually are contributing in real dollars today. And that means citywide, accurate and transparent financial reporting to the taxpayers about the impact this entire deal is going to have on our city and our ability to invest in our people, our neighborhoods and our ability to invest in our people, our neighborhoods and our community. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Reverend Dr. Gundy, please. Good evening. My name is Reverend Dr. Aril Gundy. My address is on file. Everybody's been talking about why we should do it. I want to address you and say how to do it. It comes important time when you've heard everything that you've heard, that we have to do what they say in Proverbs 21 and 3, just stop talking. Stop trying to figure it out. Open your hearts that the Spirit of God come in and simply do the right thing. Because we are talking about how to promote equity and equality that access opportunities and resources to a community that's been long overdue, we're talking about mitigating the disproportionate impacts, environmental hazards and climate change and other things in the neighborhood that's been long overdue. And you have someone who's leveraging public dollars to help this community move forward. If we want to be the great city that I think we should be a need to be, then we need to just stop talking, open our hearts, and do the right thing and support the CBA. All of you know it's long overdue. Some of you are old as I am maybe, but I'm 70 years old. I've been living here all my life. And I've seen the disparities. I've seen the changes. I've seen how we do things. And it puts a red flag up and says, is there some developer somewhere trying to convince that we need to stop this so they can come in and do something different. I don't know. But something about this is not right. It's simple. We want to state them and down the road, we got to worry about a jail. billion dollars. It's simple down the road. We talk about 35 million dollars from the shift. It's simple. But now you have it where we can take this money, do something for our community, invest in it and simply do the right thing because it's the moral thing to do. So I'm just asking, let's stop talking. Let's stop trying to figure this out. Let's just close our lips for a while, open our hearts and do the right thing. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Next up is Don Curling, please. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Don Curling. I am the business owner of We Make the Shirt and one of the co-founders for Jack Smellin' and Market, which are both located on Afula Randolph Boulevard. I have prepared a statement so that I don't get so far off track and expressing my passion for this community. I am a fourth generation business owner and resident of East of our East community known to you as East Side. My family has lived all around our East, even where APR Park is used to be a neighborhood. Owned businesses, cockies, beauty salon, coffee shop, and grocery store, attended schools, Oakland, Matthew Gilbert, Andrew Jackson, attended church, first Baptist church of Oakland, and worked in neighborhoods, Duval Laundry. For over 100 years, at 50 years old today, I have witnessed significant changes in our community and not all of them have been positive. Currently, there are 11 black owned businesses in our area. These businesses suffer when events such as games and concerts come to the city, because we can't compete with the needs. Our community is the cultural destination where African-Americans come to socialize and gather with familiar faces. For instance, during events like Jad Games and Florida, Georgia, they don't want to leave our east because it's a familiar place where many families in Jacksonville have ties to and where visitors feel like it's home. Sorry. However, we can't host these events in our community due to lack of investment. For over a century, we've been red line, segregated and displaced. This community was filled with places to go. From restaurants, gas stations, pool rooms, clothing stores, pharmacies, movie theaters, ice cream shops, juke joints, barbecue stands, coffee shops, furniture stores, beauty salons, TV repair shops, and so many other things that I have not mentioned. We're not claiming that other communities don't need assistance, but there are funds allocated to other areas that haven't made past Main Street. And some of those funds are still unused. It's critical to whole community leaders accountable for funds that they receive. We've been fighting for years to secure funding to our community. The unique aspect of the out-east community is the presence of first, second, third, fourth, and fifth generations of families that still live there. We're not just asking for an investment in jobs or home ownership, but for the preservation of a community that has produced prominent African Americans like Bob Hayes who grew up out east. Clara White, Eartha White, Zornia Hurston and Dr. Macintosh, the first black pediatrician in the state of Florida. I wasn't finished, but thank you for your time. Thank you. Tom McGuire's next please. Good evening. I'm Tom McGuire. My address is 4711 Herder Road. Jacksonville, Florida 32210. And this is going to be a little different. On the immediate issue, I must admit I have more questions and answers. 30 years is a long time. To start with, are we sure the NFL has not already peaked and is headed for a decline? The NFL has begun to face some serious problems. The NFL Combine has long had unpleasant echoes of slave markets. While at the same time, the average lifespan of an NFL player is 59 years, which is 20 years below the national average. Even the NFL has become aware of the growing concerns of parents about the health issues of football that football players face. This has driven many schools to turn increasingly to flag football. The NFL is even funding much of this turn towards flag football. More locally, I'm concerned about the NFL's increasing promotion of gambling. Jacksonville being a low wage city makes for a population that is uniquely vulnerable to the ills that legal gambling brings. These are all things that Jack, let me go back. Are these all things that Jacksonville wants to fund? Both Oakland and Kansas City have recently said no. Can any of these issues be addressed by the city? This is something I hope you all will consider when you're considering this measure. I know the stadium deal is likely to go through, but going forward, I hope this body will prioritize more pressing needs for the city city such as economic development infrastructure and resilience We need to grow the city economically so that all of Jacksonville can move forward. I hope you will consider all these issues. Thank you Have a good night. Thank you. Next is Cindy Cory, please please. Good evening. My name is Cindy Corrie. I live at 868 Ionia Street, which is in historic Oakland, which is part of Eastside. So I am here in support of the CBA. Obviously, I've got the t-shirt. But I just wanted to say that arguably, the benefits of $1.4 billion being spent on a Jaguar stadium may have some limitations in terms of its economic return to the citizens of Jacksonville. And earlier gentlemen spoke to that a little bit, I think it was Mr. Meeks. However, the CBA has a direct benefit to many parts of Jacksonville, to our park system, to addressing homelessness, and to addressing the longstanding inequity and lack of investment into historic east side. I think that just like Springfield received funding to help it get over the hump of people who invested and improve that neighborhood. Historic Eastside needs that investment for the residents who live there. These historic homes that are there are very expensive to maintain but also to repair. And I'm hoping to see more funds available like the facade grants that were available in Springfield quite a few years ago, probably 20. I bought a house that was built in 1908. It was built by April and Lucy LeVot, who were born into enslavement, whose parents were from Africa. There's such a history to that neighborhood, and I'm seeing houses being condemned and torn down and burned, and I think it's critically important that the city helps invest to preserve this very important part of our history, where the people who live there were the people who helped make this city run. If you look at the census records, you'll see their occupations as laundrous portors, gardeners, longshoremen. This was a working thriving community and I hope to see it continue to be thrive and to work for the city. Thank you very much. Thank you for the following five individuals. Please come forward to the front seats. Please Matthew Pax, Gaye Andrile Henderson, Nancy Powell, Avery McKnight, and Diane Allen, please. And the next speaker is Bill Hoff. It's Mr. Hoffough. Mr. Hough here? Mr. Hough? Okay, we will move on to Matthew Pax, please. Good evening. Transmarency for Matthew Parks. Good evening. Transparency. Matthew Parks. Oh, Parks. Sorry about that. Mr. Miller, we've worked together. So the address is 1219 Spring Creek Court. Jacksonville, Florida, 3228. I am in transparency. I do not live on the east side. But I'm here to support the initiative for the CBA because I listened to the news and I saw a single council person mentioned that this CBA should not benefit only a single neighborhood. I was appalled in an sense because as a representative elected by the people of this city, you should know better. You should know that this is a left behind neighborhood that has been under-invested, that has been disenfranchised for decades because of decisions that were made by predecessors that sitting the chairs you sit in now. And to take such a statement, it really, really incensed me to a point to where, again, I work with many of the council people here. I am a former two-time president of the Jacksonville IT Council. I was on the Northeast CIO Council. I am a civic leader. I'm an IT leader, nationally recognized. I do mentorship, workforce development in this city. And to hear those type of reflections made by someone that was elected and who is partially funded in some cases his neighborhood by the taxpayers that sit here. It seemed to me to be not just egregious, but it's also to the level of almost theft for more than 50 years since consolidation. Promises have been made to this Northwest quadrant, to the out east community, to Durkeyville. And all of those taxpayers that lived there have paid for those gleaming monuments that we have over in San Marco, over at the town center, down at the beaches. Those were taxpayer dollars that were misappropriated or reallocated, however you would like to say that for the purpose of all of Jacksonville while leaving some of Jacksonville behind. That is not something that should be acceptable to anyone here. And if you look at the massive transfer of wealth that happens every Sunday during football games, every Saturday during college football games, where you have hundreds of thousands of people that occupy the stadium. It's my time. Thank you. Next is my time. Thank you. Next is Ms. Henderson, please. Good afternoon. My name is Gangeril, just call me Ivy Henderson. My address is 1410 Florida Avenue 3206. I am here in support of the CBA. On February 14, 23, 23, ordinance 2023-093 was introduced to the City Council. This bill would donate 9 city own properties to the historic Eastside City City to develop affordable housing. During those committee meetings there were a lot of the same conversations that are being had today. What about my district? Why the east side? Who needs that much? And so on. I showed up to those meetings to use my voice to speak to the city council explaining how my family and I intentionally one day would live on one of those lots and on March 14th, 2023, the bill was passed. Fast forward on May 15th, 2024, my family and I close on our first home in Eastside neighborhood. We are officially East Sideers. Our seats have been planted and we look forward to the harvest. I was once like many of you, many years ago unaware and ignorant of the significance of this neighborhood. I spent years learning, building relationships, and understanding the people, community, and culture. This community, like many others, is in need of resources that will continue to help improve the quality of life for all residents. And now there is an opportunity for you all to learn, build relationships, and understand how this community can help shape the downtown area and the city as a whole. In the last seven years I've witnessed the historic neighborhood or historic East Side Neighborhood become a national register of historic places. Receive a mainstream designation the first injects, invest in a new grocery store and career development center, repair and rehab over 60 homes, provide the largest intake of air's property applications for Duval and surrounding neighborhoods or counties Improve their parks provide more programming for all east side and jacks residents Purchase and redevelopment of two of the worst apartments in the city and so many other initiatives The work is happening because others see this neighborhood. I am asking that you see this neighborhood. As an asset, as an ally to the entire Jacksonville community. Your districts will not only benefit from the stadium agreement, but from the CBA as well. I encourage you to look at all the other CBAs that have been documented, not only the two that were mentioned last Tuesday in your workshop, and see how some of them included the neighboring communities to those sports complexes. Let this be where the old promises meet the pavement. Let this be where the legacy and history of the city changes. There will be members after you and I hope you don't give them the glory of being the ones that created a better downtown for the city. I would hope that one of your goals no matter how long or short you are all in those seats is that you would like for the city to not be on the Forbes worst place of sub-ecation. The citizens of Jacksonville want the CBA as part of the stadium package and we want the Jaguars as well. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Miss Powell, please. Ms. Powell, please. Hi, Nancy Powell. 1848, Chalene Avenue, Jacksonville, 322-05. And many of you know, I'm the executive director of Cinec Jacksonville. And I've also been a part of the, and I'm representing tonight, the Riverfront Parks now coalition of 14 different nonprofit organizations representing over 5,000 people within the city. And we support the city council's commitment to quality of life and in particular the stadium agreement with the community benefits agreement. It is critically important that the funding is approved to complete the river walk and the riverfront parks and that we invest in the adjacent improvements to the adjacent neighborhoods. It's a smart package, it seems to us that leverages extra investment from the Jaguars in the workforce development and other areas and that it can also complete the parks. I was part of a small group of people who formed the Riverfront Parks now and started advocating with the prior administration who did fund substantially the initiation of these parks. So we're about halfway there and I think it's really imperative that we don't start and stop, start and stop and repeat some of the things that have held us back in the past about changing directions. We look at peer city examples and we know that these cities have invested in their own public spaces that will then attract private developments and it draws, I think, this whole package, the Jaguars depends on a regional draw as does these parks. It's not a downtown play. It's not just for downtown residents. This is for the entire regions that will help visitors. It will help people from all over Jacksonville and it will really put our city on the map. So we really encourage you to focus your efforts. I think you've heard also that the Audi's neighborhood, you know, investing in a focused way is a smart move as and we hope you'll support this agreement. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Avery McKnight please. Thank you city council for having me. Avery McKnight my address is on file. Thank you. I am a local business owner on the east side. I serve as president of the East Side Legacy Business Council and board chair of the Avenue Main Street. I would like to personally thank City Council for supporting our Main Street efforts. I grew up at 1118 in the Union Street and as a kid I would walk down to the Gatorbowl and I used to go watch the Jacksonville Bulls play. I used to work for a guy named Grover selling peanuts at the Gator Bowl and that's what my love of football became. I'm a Florida Gator's fan. I'm a Florida Gator's fan. I'm a Florida Gators fan. Also, I used to walk down the Dorcas Drake Christmas party. My mother couldn't afford a lot of gifts, so we would walk down to the Dorcas Drake Christmas party. I'd get in line waiting those long lines, bring the gifts home and let my mother wrap them with the gifts that she could afford. Also, I was a kid. I used to walk six city blocks from home to watch the Jacksonville Suns play. We walked down to the Jacksonville Suns game. I paid $1 for a hot dog waiting line and there was this display stand by and they had these basketball cards. And I still have my basketball cards from the 89-90 season when Magic Johnson was MVP. When Dennis Rockman was, he was the defensive player of the year in the admiral. David Robinson was working of the year. And as a kid, I wasn't interested in basketball cards, but this was the office and was working here a year. And as a kid, I wasn't interested in basketball cars, but this is where I place to go to have fun because of the close proximity. And make no mistake about it what you know now today as the sports complex or the entertainment district has always been and always will be a part of the east side. And if you want to have a vibrant sports complex, make no mistake about it. The linchpin of a sports complex is your corridors. And your main two corridors is going to be Bay Street and A Phillip Randolph. And if you start down at Bay Street, at the intuition in the airhouse, and you ride the full stretch of A Phillip, by the time you make it to Albert Street, you'll notice you're in a different world. But continue to ride down A Phillip Randolph until you get down to kids' hope aligns at first street. So the proximity of the stadium is the lynch pan here. To have a vibrant sports district, you have to invest in the outies. There's no sports district without a vibrant outies. And so in the next 30 years, we could well have two super bowls. That's my time. Thank you, sir. The following individuals, please come forward to the French seats, Curtis Cobb, Tolisza Robinson, Nathaniel Johnson, Marvin Curtis, and Zimmerman Bullo's please. And our next speaker is Diane Allen. Good evening, City Councilman. My address, my name is Diane Allen. My address is 1661 Seminary Street Jacksonville 3209. I do support the CBA. I worked out on the east side at the churches for a long time. It's not churches in the Moors call Crown Chicken now. I don't know when I used to call on the east side. I used to call them the East Side. I used to be always scared of East Side because I'm from Harvard View. East Side was just so, I just said, why doesn't it look like this? Why is it so ugly? And then when we got the new mayor, I said, well, maybe they're gonna do something about the East Side. And then y'all started talking about the Jaguar Stadium and all this and all this and that. Here it is from this press week. They look down at our restaurant and they don't see nothing but other than this. The people gonna keep going. The trees so high. I mean, they won't even come. One time they did the city used to come and cut the grass and stuff. They don't even cut the grass. I don't really know what's happening right. But I come to say that it's on 10, 60 East 21st Street, okay? And we need our area cleaned up. Not only fill it random, we need a whole, I'll come all the way down, like I just said, 10, 60 East 21st Street. I mean, it's look so dead out there. And Jacksonville is a beautiful city. I'm not from Jacksonville. I was really from Miami, but my family came up here. And I've been living here ever since. All I ask is that don't leave East 21st Street out. I mean, it's sad enough to homeless people. We got to deal with them running them off the property and stuff like that. Nothing happening with them. So can y'all please, whoever I got to deal with them, running them off the property and stuff like that. There's nothing happening with them. So can y'all please, whoever, I got to find out who is our city councilman. I don't know who it is, but it... I knew it. They kept telling me to call them, but I just, you know, send them a bus and say, well, go say something. So I am saying something. Let's just try to do better. All the jacks and bill, all the jacks and bill, please, please, please. You know, and we have some good food down there. Y'all don't know. Like I said, it's not church-ass anymore, okay? It's called crown know. Like I said, it's not churches anymore, okay? It's called Crown Chicken and I invite all y'all to come out there and get something that new chicken that we bought the Jacksonville. I'm pleased, please. And we also have, let's put it on Muslims too. We all have high-level, okay? So please come and support. And whoever over our district, please let our part where the people can come in and look good and just represent East 21st Street. Thank you. Ms. Allen, Ms. Pittman would like to meet within the green room with you. Okay. You're on to do that. Yes ma'am. Okay. I'm going to do that. Thank you. Next speaker is Mr. Cod. Hello, my name is Curtis Cod. My address is on file. I am here in support of the CBA bill of 2024 and 904. As I currently voice my support, I am here in support of the CBA bill of 2024 and 904. As I currently voice my support, I am here. I am hearing some inaccurate narratives pushed by the councilman and some media like. Namely, the community benefits agreement is not solely going to the east side. As this name dictates, it will be spread amongst the community. It is true that the east side, affectionately known as the out east neighborhood, will benefit the most from the community beneath benefits agreement as it should, because not only is it the stadium's direct neighbor. Excuse me. It is an area that has been highly neglected, despite being highly used. It's neglect extends beyond our better Jacksonville plan where it was not a major beneficiary as other community were. The east side has been felt repeatedly in at least seven. Seven other failed east side, we vitalization, inclusive initiatives. And in order to prepare the city for it as a whole, as well as helping to make Jacksonville a destination location within the state of Florida, it is imperative that we spend the money to lift all Jacksonville constituents and attack problems plaguing our communities, which includes the 50 million going to homelessness initiatives, which is a tangible problem in our community, and not just garbage as some councilmen would have you to believe. Other inaccuracies we need to address include the posturing of the need of a budget in July, first before it in approval for the stadium deal in a community benefits agreement. Actually, this is a non-issue because the budget pertaining to the community benefits agreement does not come from this fiscal year. Sectioning off the benefits agreement leaves the ability to continue to neglect a historically neglected yet well-trafficked area in our city. And a spreading of a lot of resources can lead to a non-impact or a Jacksonville community that has repeatedly been neglected over seven times and for decades. And according to a UNF poll, 81% of people poll found value in the community benefit agreement today as is. The stadium deals works because it takes care of both the Jacksonville Jaguars and the City. Removing the community benefits agreement sounds to me and the rest of your constituents that you're looking to cut your constituents out of the deal. The citizens of the City of Jacksonville and the city council to keep the deal together and allow the constituents, the community to effectively benefit and elevate Jacksonville nationally. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Next is to listen Robinson, please. Hello. My name is Telsar Robinson. My address 1318, Van Buren Street. Jacksonville, Florida. Today, I must, today, I must express my support for the Jailwater Stadium package and more important. The community benefit agreements. This deal has the power to make DuVal's one of Florida's top destinations as a third generation e-sider and the CEO of East Coast Striping and Painting, I have lived through the challenges of our community that we face today. Excuse me, yet I see the potential our city holds. This agreement is not just about constructing a new stadium. It is about building a brighter future for every one of us. For too long, certain parts of Jacksonville have been neglected. By investing back in our community, Jacksonville can become a vibrant place for current residents and future residents. This CBA is our chance to transform our neighborhoods creating work opportunities for small businesses, businesses and affordable houses and developing programs for youth. This project will enhance the east side, west side, downtown as well as the north side and south side. From the sports complex to 21st and Phoenix neighborhoods and beyond. And proving these connections will not only open up our school. Approving these connections would not only open up our many historical neighborhoods, but also leading to a United Community. Make sure the funds are passed out fairly and reach the right hands. Again, make sure the funds are passed out fairly and reach the right hands. We must guarantee that every dollar invested brings tangible benefits to our community, fostering equal and togetherness. This agreement is a win-win for Jacksonville. It secures the futures of the Jack of the Jack Wars and I sit it while making vital investment and workforces, developments, public spaces, and surrounding neighborhoods. Time to, it's time to bring Jacksonville together. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Nathaniel Johnson, please. Nathaniel Johnson please. Nathaniel Johnson. Okay. We'll move on to Marvin Curtis please. Marvin Curtis. Okay. Zimmerman Boulos please. Zimmerman Boulos 1524 San Marco Boulevard. please. Zimmerman-Bolus 1524 San Marco Boulevard. There are five major sports leagues in the USA. That National Football League average attendance 69,000 a game. Major League Baseball 27,000 a game. Major League Soccer 24,000 a game. NBA 18,000 a game. National hockey league 17,000 in game, NBA 18,000 in game, National Hockey League, 17,000 in game. Some cities have teams in all five leagues. New York, LA, Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, Miami, San Fran, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, and Minneapolis. Some cities have four teams. Houston, Charlotte, Seattle, Detroit. Some cities have three teams. Kansas City, Phoenix, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Tampa, Nashville, San Francisco, Salt Lake, and St. Louis. Cities with just two teams. Portland, Las Vegas, Indianapolis, Orlando, San Jose, Baltimore, Buffalo, Columbus, Milwaukee, and New Orleans. And that leaves cities with just one team. Sacramento, San Diego, San Antonio, Austin, Oklahoma City, Memphis, Oakland, Green Bay, and Jacksonville. I don't see us ever getting a basketball, baseball, or hockey team. And as far as Major League Soccer goes, the next team is going to see Indiego with Phoenix, Sacramento, and Detroit, and Indianapolis in the wings. In fact, last week, the City Council and Indianapolis approved $468 million deal to build a 20,000-seat soccer stadium to lure an expansion team and that was 80% funded by the city of Indianapolis. So we won't be getting a soccer team either. If we don't renovate the stadium we wind up losing the team, we'll join the ranks of the following cities that have only minor league teams. Birmingham, Tulsa, Hartford, Richmond, Louisville. Those aren't cities we want to be compared to. I traveled the entire world referring to international soccer games for FIFA. And people would always ask me where I was from. And the only reason they would know about Jacksonville was because of the Mayo Clinic, the 17th hole at the TPC or the Jaguars. The Jaguars are a main part of the fabric of our community, part of the city's identity. People at Jacksonville say I'll tell you it'd be much harder and difficult to recruit high-paying jobs without the team. You can't pay for the type of publicity they bring us. High-paying jobs are a critical part of the successful city and having the Jaguar here helps us recruit more jobs, be more competitive when trying to recruit companies to move here. Renovate the stadium, approve the CBA, and keep the team. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. With the following individuals please come forward to the front seats. Ms. Kookie, Michael Mons, Detroit W, Brenda Robinson, Dr. Brenda Robinson, Gary Stubbs, and Doug Cuppell. And the next speaker is Ms. Cookie, please. Is Ms. Cookie here, please? Okay, we'll move on to Michael Muns, please. Michael Muns, please. Michael Muns? Thank you, members of council. In 1993, I was a teenager underneath the stadium, putting together signs for cold fever. That was a pretty exciting time. Fast forward in 1983, the Jagswar. Jaguars are announced to come to Jacksonville. And I organized a helicopter landing where Wayne Weaver and Ed Austin landed in the middle of stadium. That was pretty exciting as well. Fast forward, 95. I got to represent the City of Jacksonville, the Hall of Fame Bowl, and Canton, where the Jaguars played the Carolina Panthers as their first official game on behalf of who I then worked for Mayor John Delaney. Fast forward, 2011, Shad Khan buys the Jackson Jaguars, and helps move our city forward. I never would have thought through all those years of doing all the various things I got to do to support the Jaguars, but I would stand before you and ask you to support a community benefits agreement that would spend the kind of money that's looked at to be spent on behalf of our city. And I'm very proud of the speakers that came before me, very eloquent speakers, with very good, passionate thoughts, ideas, and one person, particularly, that really struck me with Travis Williams. Have you talked about the history and what's happened out east and not just out east but throughout Jacksonville. So I would strongly encourage you and I understand there are issues that need to be dealt with that some members have that may be perceived conflicts. I know that you have very smart lawyers and you are all very intelligent members of our community. I would strongly encourage you to figure out if there was a way to keep the community benefits agreement intact and pass this package in whole. Because just like as excited as I was to be a teenager underneath those stands, when Jay Gottbold pounded the fist and said cult fever, I'm just excited today as a stand here and ask you to please pass the community benefits agreement on behalf of our entire city. Members, thank you very much. Would you please state your name and address for the right here please? Michael Mons, 140 West Monroe Street, Jacksonville, 3202. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, be Troy W. Please. Okay. We'll move on to Dr. Brenda Robinson, please. Okay, we'll move on to Dr. Brenda Robinson please. Good evening. I am Dr. Brenda Robinson. I am President and CEO of the Robinson Corporation, Engineering and Construction firm. I'm also a longtime resident of Out East or East Side Jacksonville. My family moved to third in Van Buren about 1966, and we continued to reside as our family home there. I grew up in Jacksonville. I went to Arielle Brown, Matthew Gilbert, South Side Junior High, Andrew Jackson. Went away to college and came back. I'll now reside at 1232 I Own You Street. So I love my community. Of course, being a long time resident of the community, I've seen its needs. And the people are people. And the people struggle and have issues, but as some have said, there are many hard working people also in the community. And I will say that I cannot say that I'm in support of the community benefits agreement simply because I have not read it. I have not analyzed it. I don't know what's in it to be honest. I cannot totally say that I'm in favor of the Jacksonville Jaguar and the City of Jacksonville's agreement for the 1.1 or 1.4 billion dollars stadium. Again, I have not read that. I don't know the details of it. I haven't looked at it very closely. But I would say this that I believe and I would hope that if the city believes that investing to help renovate the Jaguar Stadium to the tune of 1.1 to 1.4 billion dollars that the city leaders, including you, Council people, as well as the mayor and others in leadership positions, would also think that it would be beneficial to spend millions of dollars building the people in the community near the stadium. I will say this that I'm not opposed to the Jaguars, but I'm not necessarily a football fan. I've never been to a game. I am, as I said, a resident of Eastside, and recently I went down a Philip Randolph, and it was on a day that there was an event being held and quite honestly I don't know if it was a Jaguars game or if it was something else. But I didn't notice from about first street to on a Philip Randolph all the way for Yann Union Street. If I remember correctly there were approximately two police cars on both sides of the street so four police cars at each intersection. And this annoyed me and I was quite frankly a little insulted and I thought why on earth are there so many police cars and why who thinks it's necessary to put this number of police cars here. And I felt like what are they trying to do? Make us feel that we are in a police state. What are they saying to the people in the community? Stay in line or else we are here to deal with you. Or what are they trying to say to the people that are not a part of the community? Here we're making you safe because these people are so dangerous. So my time is up, but I just wanna say this. If you believe that the community needs so many police officers, then the community needs programs and benefits to deal with the issues underlying. Thank you, ma'am. And so I would ask you to consider that. Thank you, ma'am. Next up is Gary Stubbs, please. Good evening, Councilman. I am, my name is Gary Stubbs. I'm a local business man here in Jacksonville, Florida. Been here 62 years. I have an amazing product. I do support the Jacksonville renovation and I have an amazing product that I'd love to present to the decision makers. And you're at risk for the record, please, sir? I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I risked for the record, please. Yes, my address is on record. OK, thank you, sir. I'm sorry. But I have an amazing product. I'd love to present it to the decision makers of the Jacksonville Jaguar project. I do somewhat support the CBA. I haven't read in depth on it, but I'm certainly for the growth and the economical development. And that's how I think that I can make an impact on a personal note as a small contractor in this amazing product, a project. Again, I specialize in custom integration. We put the big, we have an amazing product that unfolds in 25 seconds, comes up in 60 seconds. It's a 200 inch screen that we'd love to put into the Jaguar stadium. Thank you very much for your time. And I'd love to get with those decision makers. Thank you, sir, would the following individuals please come forward to the front seats? Mia Evans and Laurence Cassandra Woodce, I believe, and our next speaker is Doug Cuppel. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Doug Clippell 8267. Jacksonville 3256. Thank you for your time tonight. And thank you all for your service to our community. As I begin my comments tonight, I would ask each of you just silently reflect just in your mind on two questions and think about these in the back of your mind while I'm talking. The first question is, if you were asked to give our city's finances a letter grade, eight AF, the old school report card, what grade would you give it in the back of your mind? That's the first question. The second question is, if we had a ranking of the top 75 metro areas in our country, which of course Jack Phil is one. Where would you put our city's fiscal health in that ranking, one being the top 75 being the bottom? Where would you do that? And as you think about that, let me tell you what the experts are saying. I'm quoting to you from a group called Truth in Accounting, which is a non-partisan independent group which provides factual information on the financial status of cities across the country. According to these experts, Jacksonville earns a letter grade of D is in one grade above F. And our ranking in 75 metro areas is 65th out of 75th. According to this audit, we have $4.5 billion in available assets, and $8.1 billion worth of liabilities. Shockingly, our budget became worse by about $985 million in a period of time in which tax revenue increased, $51 million, and we received $671 million in COVID money from the federal government. So our financial position got worse despite all of this extra windfall. According to this audit, every man, woman and child right now would have to send a check of over $17,000 to our city just to get us out of debt from where we're in right now. That's no way to run a government. I realize a lot of this debt is long term pension debt that you folks don't necessarily have any hand in creating. But nevertheless nevertheless it is a burden that we have I Come to you as a Jags fan. I've got my Jags shirt on. I'm a founding member I've been a season seed older since day one. I've delivered here pre-jags and post-jags Our city is better post-jags. We're a better city. I think mr. Khan is a good owner. I like mr. Khan But that doesn't mean that we can't have some rationality when we evaluate what we're going to spend money on. We go to a car law. It's easy to get intoxicated by the greatest model with the fancy paint job and all the features and all that kind of stuff. And hopefully I have a saying and sober member of our family elbows us in the ribs and says, well, that's great. But this is what we can afford or this is what we're going to spend. And I'm asking each of you to be that same and sober family member who gives somebody to elbow the ribs and doesn't get us to commit to things that we can't afford. There's an opportunity cost for everything that you spend, as you know. When you spend money on stuff like this, you don't have money to invest in neighborhoods and things like this. This city has real needs. We have critical areas of the city that are under serve. We have a billion dollar jail that needs to be reocated. We live in a low line coastal area, we got hardening and things we need to do. We've got a lot of money to spend things on. This is not one of them. I'm going to leave you front and back at printed change. I encourage you to take each Next up is Mia Evans, please. Hello, everybody. My name is Mia Evans. I am an art teacher and Air Force Reservist and my addresses on record. And I represent a different demographic of voters as some of you all may know. I am new to the Eastside neighborhood. I just purchased the home through a program called Habitat for Humanity. And these are my new neighbors basically. So I'm here in full support. I'm originally from Chicago, Illinois, and I lived all over the Wendy City. And I've witnessed firsthand how the restoration of the stadium and the South Loop soldier field really revitalized an area. We're talking about an area that was originally retlined and was not safe become completely restored where I was actually able to live in walking distance from soldier fields, an area where I was able to jog and walk and have access to healthy foods, which was not always the case. We all know that sports and tourism stimulates the economy and it helps to circulate the community dollar throughout the city. And since 2008, I've lived all over Jacksonville. I've lived on the west side, south side, Riverside, San Marco. And out east has been my most exciting home purchase. It was exciting to me because of the promises that I researched prior to buying in that neighborhood of how the neighborhood was going to be restored due to the revitalization of the neighborhood through the stadium and the CBA. Just a few examples. My second week there, after purchasing my home, my neighbors and I organized an Easter egg hunt in Heritage Park. I learned that a few of my church members lived in that neighborhood. I pay my neighbor's son to take out my trash. I also teach art classes at the community center from one of the representatives who just came up here to spoke and a lot of the children in the neighborhood see me coming back and forth from reserve recon in my uniform. So it sparks conversation about me being this new person there and I represent a demographic of home buyers that are really looking to invest in a quality of life that wasn't originally there before, which is why I felt the need to get up and speak. Again, in light of inflation and pursuit of a better future and breaking generational wealth, we're willing to invest in the now. So we are looking to inspire other homeowners like me to live locally. A lot of the business owners that are moving to competitive cities like Atlanta, North Carolina, it would be inspiring for them to stay here, to circulate the dollar here in this neighborhood. And we also have direct access to the youth as an educator and a service member, and we are grooming the next generation of voters. So please keep that in mind as you move forward. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next is Miss Cassandra Woods. I reside at 600 North Washington Street here in the downtown district and what is the historic, Jesuit community home, and what is known to be the hometown, the tribal land of the nation's third oldest tribe. Downtown Jacksonville is home to what is known as the Abyssinian tribe, which has six, six tribal lands over this world, over the planet. Now this is what I'm talking about, heritage tourism. How is it that we know that this is the homeland of the third oldest tribe in the United States of America? What tells us this? What's been deeply disappointing is that I've noticed what appears to be acts of vandalism, historic markers missing, historic items missing, things that are placed in the interest of public safety missing and the creation of errors. I can't even understand I can't even understand one. I am genuinely disappointed at the dismantlement of the floating pier. It was a very competent and je nearing labor and what need was there to dismantle it, too. I can't even understand that the river walk tilt was created because that's what it is, geographic tilt. I can't even understand that the river walk tilt was created, because that's what it is, geographic a tilt. I can't even understand that it was created. What need was there for any of the undersea drilling? And now we have to pay what looks like and anticipated multiples of millions of dollars to repair the river walk and the bay walk. What need was there to disinter all of these native Americans who've been interred on these lands for all these years. This has long been known to be an ancient burial ground and a battle ground. Some of the fiercest battles were fought here. I can't even understand why any of this is being permitted. I would one encourage City Council to review some of the better plans that were in place from prior City Council and prior administrations to protect and preserve this land. The Bay Walk is a disgrace. This is some of the most sustainable conduct that any of this has been permitted. There was no need to put an apartment building on some of the historic glands where the third founder of the United States Marines is interred. Where the founder of the United States Coast Guard who is here on the Hollys, the Lisi, the third has this native land there. I don't understand why the native lands are disturbed to put an apartment complex that we don't need to rent. When you can't rent an apartment complex for $750,000, $900, or $1,100, why place more? When you fail to plan, you plan to fail. And that's what my grandfather Marsette would senior told me. And I gotta tell you, hermitism is where the money is and it's fabulous. As Jackson ball Jaguar sound they need neighbors. Thank you, ma'am. That concludes our speakers but I also have the number of cards that I need to read into the record. Who do not wish to speak, but they have opinions on the bill. So I will read through those names. Wilfred Magmogby supports Maya Francis supports Timmikapari supports Delewyn Gatson senior supports Perry supports Delewin Gatson, senior supports Taren Haywood and support Jimmy Mejette, support Barry Cotter, support Tansy Morris, support Gail Gamble, nothing signified does not just speak. Senetta Krum, support Marvin Blackman, support Lou Seal, McLeod, support Berrine Betty Foster, support Tammy Daily, support David Garfunkel, support Ruben Velasquez, support Celicia Chavez, support Russell Harper, support Angelita Rivers, support Mary Marine Baker support, Michael Talkot support, Devon Stewart support, Netanya Wicker support, Jackie Lottomere support, Scott Roy support, Joni Turner support, Gloria McNair support, Ramona Roberts support, Tina Worth support, Evan Jodo support, Dwayne Smith junior support, Stephanie Gary Garfunkel support, Sabrina McCullough support, Mark McCullough support, Michael Burr-Vowes support, Francina Stolling support, Teroep support Aaron battle support Kenny Colston support Jason Walker support so when listed as make Jacksonville great again and support Eric Bigen support, Cameron Carlyle support, Robert Sheldon support, Ashley Marie Rodin support, Phillip Andrew Harjes support, Michael Samson the second support, Katherine Griffin support, Lynn Brooks support, Robert Sanderson support, Eunice Davis support, Brandy Matthews support, Karen McCombs support, Derek Leonard support, Kelly Frazier support, Joseph George support, Larry Leonard support, Robert Brooks support, and the last one is Michelle Braun support. I close this public hearing. Thank you, Mr. Floor Leader, for all that work. Thank you, Mr. President. Just a couple of things before we go to roll call. It's my plan on assuming things go well the rest of the week to make 904 the last thing on our agenda. So we'll get through all the other business of the council before we finally vote on the Jaguar thing, assuming Thursday and Friday go well. Pardon me? I don't know what you're referring to. I'm sorry, Mary Ann. Yes, the June 25 meeting is what I'm referring to. I think everyone understood that. Number two, I'm monitoring legislation is going through committees. I've seen nothing so far that's controversial. If there's anything that develops in OUZ tomorrow or in the other committees, I may defer it so we can spend all the time we need on the Jaguar deal as well, trying to organize my last meeting appropriately. Yes, Mr. Palosa. Okay, roll call. Yeah, since. 18 present. Okay. We are adjourned. We have a prayer. Thank you. We'll be saying a prayer for the incoming president as you have a lot of heavy lifts probably coming your way. But that being said, I felt it best to close with a very familiar scripture. I'm at the U69 and if you'll join with me either in your heart or along in words. But it starts off by saying after this man, they for pray ye, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us of our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into tradition, but deliver us from evil, for dying as the kingdom, and the the power and the glory forever. Amen. you