In our lives. Every dollar allocated represents an investment, whether in public safety, infrastructure, education, or countless other services that keep our city running and thriving. But here's the thing, budget isn't built in a vacuum. It's built with your voices, your input, and your vision. That's why tonight matters. Public engagement and budget, budgeting isn't just a formality. It's the heartbeat of a responsive and responsible government. When you speak up, when you share your ideas, and when you ask tough questions, you help shape a budget that truly serves everyone. Your participation tonight ensures that we do not fund, that we don't just fund programs, but we fund the right programs. It ensures that we don't just allocate resources, but we allocate them wisely, equitably, and with purpose. And while tonight is an important step, let's keep the conversation going all year long. Speak up at your neighborhood meetings, share your thoughts and community surveys, stay connected, and every opportunity to engage. Your voice doesn't just matter tonight, it matters every day. So here's my ask to you tonight. Let's ask questions, explore possibilities, and collaborate to create a budget that reflects the best of our community. Because when we work together, we don't just build a budget. We build a stronger, more vibrant and connected city. So it's my pleasure to introduce the Mayor of St. Petersburg, Kennedy Welch. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, to our council, to the members of our community, and to our St. Pete team, those who are watching us from home. It's an honor to join you tonight for this 2026 fiscal year budget open house. As you said, Mr. Chair, our goal tonight is to hear from the voices of our community, and to understand their insights and perspectives. We all have the same impactful mission to identify priorities and implement programs and services that will improve the quality of life for all residents in the city of St. Petersburg and to balance our resources with our diverse needs. To our city council and our St.P. team I want to extend a special thanks to all of you for your research, for your analysis, and feedback leading up to this point. Tonight we continue the development of the fiscal year 2026 budget. Our team continues to be intentional when it comes to seeking input from our community, and we continue to focus on innovation, inclusivity, and community engagement as we pursue our goal of inclusive progress for all who call St. Pete home. We approach the development of our annual budget with the goal of funding essential city services and addressing current and emerging needs of our city. The anchors supporting our important work tonight and all year long are the five pillars for progress, housing opportunities for all, education and youth opportunities, equitable development arts and business opportunities, healthy and safe neighborhoods and environment, infrastructure and resilience. Now let's talk about that fifth pillar. The FY26 budget process includes an intense focus on resilience, encompassing several areas including infrastructure, environmental, economic, and community resilience. Now while resilience has been a city priority for many years, the storm events of the last two years specifically have underscored the need for this to remain a top priority for the city. Our draft FY26 budget will include significant capital improvement project or CIP funding to support sustainability and resiliency. For example, the St. Pete Agile Resilience Plan or SPAR is an aggressive accelerated approach to strengthening the city's infrastructure ensuring long-term resilience in the face of climate challenges. At its core, Agile reflects the city's commitment to rapid action and adaptation. Projects in this year's CIP budget are located throughout the city and cover improvements to water and stormwater infrastructure, bridges and seawalls, sidewalks and streets and roads. Similarly, the operating budget for five public works administration departments reflects the city's commitment to improving our infrastructure, managing assets and preparing for the future. We will continue to prioritize our housing opportunities for all plan. With an overall goal now of 9,000 units by 2030, we're helping residents stay settle and be stable in St. Pete. We've increased our goal in each of the last three years. And of the units secured so far, 72% of them are 80% AMI or area median income or below. We will include ongoing programs in our housing plan that include citywide for residential rehab programs. programs, I hear you cheering, Councilmember Gabbard, tentative eviction, codes, compliance assistance, city employee housing assistance, and affordable housing land acquisitions. And we will also continue addressing homelessness through social action grants, rapid rehousing, and direct funding to nonprofits whose missions and programs assist the homeless. We will continue our focus on ensuring intentional equity in all of our policies and programs, especially as it relates to economic development, business, and the arts. Our draft budget includes funding for strategic initiatives aimed at helping small businesses grow, grow their capacity and increase profitability, including continued partnership with the Greenhouse, St. Pete Chamber and the St. Pete Economic Development Corporation. We are proposing continued funding for city-wide workforce development programming as well. And as an internationally recognized city of the arts, the arts define St. Pete's culture and bolster our economy. We are proposing increased funding for the city's arts grants program, and allocating funds to organizations who preserve our history, and refine the skills of our talented future artists. We will continue to support our arts community, grow its infrastructure, and provide equitable opportunities for local artists and businesses alike. Our investment in education and youth opportunities continues in this draft budget, including funding for youth outreach after school and educational programs, with an emphasis on literacy and STEAM projects. The draft budget also reflects our commitment to young adults seeking long term career opportunities. The Mayor's future ready academy will continue to promote career development by providing on-the-job training and complimentary classroom instruction at Pinellas Technical College. As you know, in total, 15 academy graduates have been hired into full-time positions for city jobs. Safe and healthy neighborhoods are requisite for inclusive progress. The draft budget continues on investment in public safety, including funding for the St. Pete Police Department's Community Assistance and Life Liaison Program or call, and Fire Rescue's Fire Cadet Program and additional vehicles. For both departments, the budget includes funding for behavioral health services for public safety employees and their direct family members. A healthy city is vital to our progress and we remain committed to food security and increase access to healthy foods, especially in identified food deserts. The city's Healthy St. Pete initiative will continue to support our neighborhoods and connect residents to healthy choices and lifestyles. And lastly, we're excited to report on the Innovative Equity Project, an initiative launched during last year's budget open house in design to foster community empowerment and participation and resource allocation within the city of St. Petersburg. The $1 million project selected by the community is forward together, a youth crime prevention program that addresses foundational causes of youth involvement in crime. Forward together emphasizes mental health interventions while providing wraparound services, connection to resources, positive activities, and family support. So now is the time for the community to share your thoughts and priorities as we refine this draft budget and develop a proposed budget that works for everyone in our city. We appreciate your partnership and look forward to hearing all of your voices tonight. Again, thank you for joining us. And Mr. Chair, I'd like to invite up Liz McCosky, our budget director. Liz? Great. Good evening everyone. Thank you for joining us for the city of St. Petersburg, FY26 budget open house. Tonight I'll give a quick presentation on the FY26 preliminary budget process before we move into the public comment section of tonight's meeting. As Mayor mentioned, building a budget is all priorities and the city's annual budget development process is a balance between our numerous priorities and limited resources. The budget process is centered on ensuring our resources are deployed along one of the Mayor's five pillars for progress which are in turn guided by the six principles for accountable and responsive government. And our goal on an annual basis is to ensure that the citywide investments we make support our vision of being diverse, vibrant city guided by principled progress, and intentional inclusivity where innovative partnerships and ingenuity create opportunity for all. This year's budget also includes a focus on resilience. And while this has been a city priority for many years, the events over the last few storm seasons has shown the need for this to remain a top priority for the city. On the screen we have a definition of resilience by the state division of emergency management. In the state of Florida, resilience is generally defined as the ability of communities, infrastructure, ecosystems, and individuals to adapt to and recover from adverse conditions such as hurricanes, flooding, sea level rise, and other climate-related impacts. This definition aligns with Florida's focus on minimizing vulnerabilities, promoting sustainable growth, and growing communities back stronger after every event. Resilience in Florida can be looked at at four key aspects. There is environmental resilience, which includes adapting to changes in climate conditions, including sea level rise and coastal erosion, and protecting our natural ecosystems like wetlands and mangroves that act as natural buffers against storms. There's also infrastructure resilience which includes designing buildings, roads and utilities to a standard stream weather events and retrofitting existing infrastructure to reduce risk from flooding and storm surges. Economic resilience includes ensuring communities can recover quickly from disasters and diversifying our local economies to reduce vulnerabilities to climate related disruptions. And finally we have community resilience which includes promoting education, awareness and preparedness and strengthening social networks and resources to support recovery efforts. This budget is a planning tool and as part of this year's budget process we'd like to focus on resilience planning throughout the city. Looking at the city's budget development process, it's dictated by state statue and city ordinance and we have developed a series of internal processes that allow us to meet all the deadlines prescribed by law. Starting back in December we began the planning phase for the FY26 budget and at this point in the process we're working through three different fiscal years having just completed FY24 city council just recently adopting the budget for FY25 and beginning planning for FY26. In January, we had the City Council Priorities Committee of the Whole, which is a chance for city council members to share their priorities with the public and city administration. Also held in January and February, we have the kickoff meetings that start the formal budget development process with the city departments. And at these meetings, the budget department provides information, direction, training, and important budget dates to the department. Next, the departments will complete an internal review of their budget, and any changes to the budgets are organized into proposals, which are prioritized, and then submitted to the budget department. After budget reviews, the department submissions, there are line-in-and-review meetings held. Each department meets with budget and city administration to review and discuss their proposed budget. During this process, the proposals are further prioritized in an effort to ensure that each is aligned with the mayor's pillars for progress. Annually, we hold a budget open house where the public has an opportunity to participate in the budget process by sharing their thoughts and priorities with the city and like last year we have scheduled the budget open house earlier in the budget process than in previous years. After the line-on- review process is completed in the open house held we have two committees of the whole meetings with city council to report on the progress we have made and to solicit input and direction from City Council. The CIP, Cal is scheduled for April 24th, and the operating committee of the whole will be on May 6th. Other important dates in the budget process include in late June but no later than July 1st. We'll receive the certified values from the property of Fraser's office. Oner before July 15th, Mayor Welch will submit his balanced budget recommendations to City Council. At the July 17th City Council meeting, we will ask City Council to set a tentative military and the dates of the two public hearings will be set. None included on this slide. We also have another budget committee of the whole schedule for July 31st. And then right now our two budget hearings are scheduled for September 11th and September 25th. And then our first, the budget will start on October 1, 2025. To the key areas of the investment plan for the preliminary FY26 budget are aligned with the mayor's five pillars for progress. For the education and youth opportunity pillars, there's funding to continue programs such as the mayor's future readiness academy, our year round youth employment programs, Are you development grants and literacy and STE steam programs such as the Shirley Proctor Puller Foundation, and the USF Marine Science Center at Clan Bayou. Under the equitable development arts and business opportunities pillar, we look to fund the continuation of our many economic and workforce development and art programs while adding funding for new programs including individual artist grants and poetry festival. Under our neighborhood health and safety pillow we're continuing to fund neighborhood and public safety programs like the call program, our community impact grants and programs, and the Healthy Neighborhood Store program. For the housing opportunities for all pillar they'll be funding to continue our progress on the 10-year housing opportunity for all agenda and provide resources for social service programs. And in the environmental infrastructure resilience pillar, the preliminary budget will have funding for projects that protect their environment, increase our resilience, and improve our city's infrastructure, including the state Pete Agile Resilience or SPAR program. And if you have time this evening on your way out there's some pillars boards downstairs that have more examples of the different funding programs that are funded under each pillar. Some key investments on the capital improvement budget side include the State Pete Agile Resilience or SPire Program, the Water and Stormwater Infrastructure Projects, Affordable Housing Land Acquisition, Bridges, Seawalls, St. St. Rhodes, sidewalks, Multimodal Transportation and Bike Pedestrian Safety Improvements, improvements at our Recreation Centers, Parks and Libraries, improvements at various city facilities,, and Neighborhood Partnership grants and enhancements are examples of a few of our CIP programs. As part of last year's budget process, we unveiled a new initiative called the Innovative Equity Project. And as part of this initiative, residents voted for one of five project proposals to be included in the FY25 adopted budget. We'd like to give a quick update on the winning program's current status. The winning project was forward together, and it's a youth crime prevention program that addresses foundational causes of youth involvement in crime. And the program focuses on youth aged 11 through 17 and and emphasizes mental health interventions facilitating holistic support and guidance. Board together is partnering with Gulf Coast JFCS, St. Petersburg Police Athletic League, CFY Pinellas, Arts Conservity for Teens, and Pinellas County Public Schools to implement various parts of this program, including mental health-focused youth coaches, tutoring, empowering sessions, and scholarships for sports. And so I'd like to end with a note that information on the city's budget is available on the city's website. And thank you again for joining us this evening. We look forward to hearing from you. Thank you. Okay, at this point, we're going to move into public comment and just a quick couple of notes, even though we don't formally have open form rules. If you haven't already, please fill out a yellow card. If you wish to speak. And then when you do come up to the podium, when you're called to the podium, if you'll just state your name and address, and you'll have three minutes to speak. we're looking forward to listening and so I do think we have some people on zoom so we'll bounce back and forth between in person and zoom so clerk if you'd call the first two in person please. First two speakers Mr. Chair Brian Perrett and Andrew Wells being please go to either podium state your name and address for the record you have have three minutes to address counsel. The the the you greetings raise it if you want. Thank you. There's a button on the side that should raise the whole thing for you. Uh, technology is a beautiful thing. The the Greetings. My name is Brian Paray. I am a resident of 1301, 11th Avenue South. I am here because I love this city and I want to see this city flourish. So many of the things that we talk about when we talk about resilience, when we talk about innovation, when we talk about workforce development, when we talk about the best outcomes for the residents that we have here, those watching online and those at home. That is what me, Brian Paray, the Director of Codebox Academy, and here to represent today. For those of of you who don't know what code box Academy is, it is my honor to share with you that we are a burgeoning tech powerhouse based right here in St. Petersburg, Florida. We have goals of making workforce development and careers in tech a reality for people for our residents. In our time, we have graduated 300 people. We have a graduation rate of 80%, we have a placement rate of almost 80%. We have placed our graduates with companies like eBay and Goodwill Industries, giant powerhouses. We've also placed our graduates at the University of South Florida at St. Petersburg, the Arts Conservatory of Teens. These are local companies. We are able to do this because we recognize one fundamental thing. Technology is empowerment. On July 1st of 2020, I was released from prison. I had no home. I had no prospects for the future. But I had somebody in my life that gave me a laptop. They gave me an internship and they gave me guidance. Today, I am a homeowner. I am a leader of my community. In addition to being the director of Codebox Academy, I have served as the president of Campbell Park Neighborhood Association, where that neighborhood just south of Tropicana Field for those of you who don't know. I have stepped away from that to take on a leadership position at the Chamber of Commerce, the Workforce and Talent Committee, because I want to learn more and lead this city into what I feel is our future. Down there in the south side, we're close to the innovation district. And I'm proud to say that three of my graduates, and I've only been at this position for three years. Three of my graduates are already homeowners, one in one of those big shiny glass towers in downtown Tampa. I come to the council today and honor you and reach out my hand to you as an ally, and I ask that we focus on workforce development that leads to jobs, the kind of workforce development that leads to careers that allows our citizens to take part in the American dream of home ownership, of raising a family in this beautiful city of St. Petersburg. Thank you very much. Thank you. Who is this? Oh, there we go. All right, I'm gonna start by lowering this back down a little. All right, it's great. Hi everyone, my name is Andy Wells-Bean. I am from 817536 Avenue over in Jungle Terrace. I'm active with my neighborhood association, the Sunco Sierra Club, and with Activate St. Pete. I live in Jungle Terrace, but I work here downtown, and I regularly bike here on the Pinellas Trail. My young sons age four and almost six also love to walk and bike. As it exists right now, the number of places and the types of places that I feel like I can bike with them is relatively small. We can get on to the Pinell access adjacent places and go around our neighborhood. But that's about it. Paint on concrete is not protection. It barely feels like anything to me as a confidence cyclist, and I wouldn't trust it to protect my four-in year old. We need protected bike lanes connecting the entirety of St. Petersburg. And I urge you to support complete streets funding that is comparable to that need. Walking, biking, and other forms of active transportation are the healthiest, most economical, most resilient, and most joyful ways of getting around town. Thank you for your support. Thank you. Next to you, speakers, please, clerk. We're gonna go to zero, Mr. Chair. Cynthia Lippert, what's your entering to the meeting space? Please unmute yourself, state your name and address for the... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Lippard. I live at 8415, 17th Street, North St. Peter, 33702 District 2. And I'm so glad to hear the mayor and his staff mentioned youth prime prevention and trying to have more programs for young people because investing in programs for youths and young adults gives them something to do, somewhere to be, bosters deeper connection to one another throughout the community. And all this leads to safer neighborhoods. I think of Dream Defenders surveyed 200 St. Keith residents and explained the fund our future campaign to city council members. And that's where we're hoping you'll be generous with funding because when students get out of school or graduate they need spaces they can be that don't cost money that don't demand things of them and give them a space to learn and grow and decompress. And we hope the city will provide more spaces for that to happen in our communities for young adults. And that's what we're asking you to fund our future programs for academic support and mentorship and life skills. And I heard career development and OJT mentioned by the mayor's staff and I'm so grateful that that's on in the budget. And thank you for your attention. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, Mr. Chair, Max McCann, Max wants you to enter into the meeting space. Please unmute yourself. States your name and address for the record. You have three minutes to address city council. Max? Yes, hi everybody. Max McCann, 2648, 3rd Avenue South. PSTA Board Member Vice President of the Palmetto Park Neighborhood Association Activates St. Pete Member and Proud Father of an awesome 7-year-old. I here to ask for more funding for Complete Streets projects. The great thing about funding these projects locally is that we don't have to depend on federal funding, which is more uncertain right now. I personally would love to see the bike planes on MLK North connected to the Pinellas Trail so that you could get some network effect going on there and actually provide a safe route for cyclists to get to more of the places that they need. I think that will help us get more mode share. You probably all heard people complain. Nobody takes the bike lane on the MLK north. That's because it doesn't go anywhere. So I understand that city transportation is looking into a quick build demonstration bike lane that would connect that to the panelist trail. That's exactly the kind of thing that I understand that city transportation is looking into a quick build demonstration bike lane that would connect to that to the panelist trail That's exactly the kind of thing that local complete streets funding would be critical for so please fully fund those kind of programs. Thank you for your time. Love you all Thank you next to speakers, please Michelle Ligon and Debbie Rischel, please go to either podium state your name and address for the record. You have three minutes to address city council. Good afternoon, Michelle Ligon, 2067 First Avenue North. I'm here to address your core goals. Infrastructure,, resilience, environmental, and resilience in terms of the city's ambulation in the face of storms that we just endured. The most here to talk about the environmental impact of our current system. And I'm here to talk about it in a way that is not so critical as it is instrumental in improving the integrity of what we have and have had for roughly 50 to 75 years and what we could have in terms of something new and innovative. I come to bring you additional information beyond that which was provided to the Council on February 20th. That is as to infrastructure which would be of no additional cost to the residents, no cost to the Council on February 20th. That is as to infrastructure, which would be of no additional cost to the residents, no cost to the city, and no cost to the county. I'm also here to talk about the light rail system to be used in ambulation throughout the city. Also, a minimal cost and full utilization within a reasonable period of time. As well as a sea coaster transport for water. I'm here to bring this to your attention personally. I've written, I've called. I'm asking you to call me. Let's work together. Let's get this done. Let's get this done now in a way that everybody can prosper and that the budget will have a positive impact at the end of this session. This is something that will benefit the entire city. This doesn't have to come at the expense of a particular neighborhood. It doesn't have to come at the expense of your budget. Let's work together to improve what's been destroyed by Helene and by Milton. And let's do it efficiently, profitably and sustainably. And most importantly, let's do it responsibly. No more dead dolphins. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. My husband and I transitioned from condo owners to homeowners four weeks before two hurricanes hit. Did you give us your name and add to it? I'm sorry. Debbie Richell, 136th Avenue, North Northeast. Thank you very much. I apologize. And I'm just here first of all to say thank you to the city. We in the Old Northeast had many, many trees go down. We didn't have the kind of disasters, horrible problems that many other neighborhoods did. But the city was very responsive, and within the mayor's time frame did get almost everything picked up. So thank you for that. But as a retired person that was involved in other cities, I would be interested and I think I probably would just talk to city staff just to learn more about the budget process, the operating budget versus your bonding and everything else. just because I think there are a lot of people my age who are just interested and we are significant taxpayers. So I'm here just to learn and I really wasn't planning to speak but thank you for all you do. At you. Next. Isle of Warham and Neil Camarabella. Please go to Ivo Podium. State your name and address for the record. You have three minutes go to the I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I've never been to any event like this before and everybody sounds so professional but I'm not so I'm just going to be real with you. I'm here because it's important to me. I love this city. I'm here after lasagna Monday which is really tough. But anyways so some things that I really care about. One I want to stand in solidarity with the dream defenders. I think that they deserve a portion of this budget to support our youth. I do not have children, but me and my husband are planning on it, and I want more programs like that to support our community. Second, I'm still waiting Ken for you to respond to my email about funding, a public survey and research study to get a public utility's electric company going. There's really good precedent right now in other cities. They're saving a ton of money. The profits are going back into their communities. Oh gosh, I'm getting worked up. Sorry guys. And there's no reason we have to dump all this money into Duke energy. It's not sustainable. It's not good. Please, please, please. We're not going to do that. Thank you. Thanks, guys. That gives me a lot of support, though. And I also appreciate all that you guys do. This is all great, and I'm so glad to see so much community involvement. I'm sure I had more, but I can't think of it now. Have a good day. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor Welch, Council Members and staff. My name is Neil Camadella. I live at 2726, Second Avenue South. I'm here to ask for more funding to fulfill the promises of the Complete Streets Resolution. The Complete Streets Resolution, which I brought here with me today. I'd like to share it with you all if you don't mind. Maybe over there. Over to your standard to champion. Thank you. The complete streets resolution was passed nearly ten years ago. Since its adoption, over 130 pedestrian cyclists have been killed in the streets of St. Pete and over 420 have been seriously injured. The purpose of the complete streets was to create a comprehensive and connected network for all road users. On the last page you'll see a current map of protected bicycle infrastructure. Protected is the key word. You don't have to be a cyclist like me to understand that riding inches away from distracted drivers going 30, 40, 50 miles per hour is extremely dangerous. As you can clearly see, the network is not comprehensive or connected. And if we keep going at the same rate we have in the last 10 years, it will be hundreds of years before we fulfill the promises of complete streets. And many more people will die. Lastly, I'd just like to end with the positive financial returns that we've seen in St. Pete when we invest in complete streets. The areas of this city that are safe for people to walk and bike are economically vibrant and full of small local businesses. The areas of this city that are designed exclusively for cars are full of empty parking lots and chain stores with low wage jobs. So thank you for your time and that's it. Thank you. Next to speaker. Excuse me, a million, a million Zimmerman and Samantha May. Please go to I the podium. State your name and address for the record. You have three minutes to address the city council. You can come to this one if you want. Hi, I'm really nervous. My name's Amelia Zimmerman. I live at 5064 and 97 terrorists. But I work at the James Wolden Johnson Community Library on 18th Avenue South. I've worked there for about two years, and I love it. It's great. And if you've been to that branch, you know, we have a lot of kids every day after school, upwards of 30 sometimes. And we have all really gotten to know them, built relationships with them, their families. It's really wonderful. But lately, we've had sort of like an explosion of gun violence. Last summer, one of our library kids, 11 years old, murdered by another child, and then just last month we had, there was like a big fight, and another child had a gun inside the library. and it was really scary. And I'm worried about the kids who come to the library for a safe space to hang out with their friends. You know, we're trying to build literacy and engage them. We're just not equipped to do so. And I know everyone's really excited about the main library reopening. And that'll be, but that means my staff at my branch will dwindle to just six. And that's just not enough. They're saying that we can have just three people in the building to close and that could include our security guard, which on the day last month when the kid had a gun, we would have just been out of luck. One person was on the phone with 911 for the almost the entire incident. Our security guard was doing his best. We had another person taking the kids that weren't involved in the incident and hiding them and are a create and event lab. And if we didn't have upwards of nine staff members in them in the building, I don't know what could have happened. So I'm here today to ask for more funding for libraries and for more funding for youth programs to help these kids that are coming to the library. We want them to keep coming to the library. So thank you. Thank you. I wanted to wait. OK. Hi, my name is Samantha May. I'm a resident of Tampa. But also, I a city employee working for the library system. Soon, I will be one of those people leaving the Johnson branch and working at the President Barack Obama main library. But right now, I'm a librarian at that branch and a steward with SCIU. As a frontline worker, I've seen the impact of violence in our community every day. Every single day at my work site does dozens of young people gather after school to socialize and unwind. Because of this like Amelia I've gone and know children that have been victims of attempted shootings children that have been shot and killed by other children. And then last month I was the person on the phone with 911 for the entirety of that incident, waiting upwards of 10 minutes of the police to arrive to the scene. And at this time, like Amelia said, dozens of young people were present. I was afraid for my life. I was afraid of the lives of my coworkers. I was afraid of the lives of the young people of St. Petersburg. I was afraid for the young person who brought the gun and like what conditions were created, what could we have done better to prevent him from accessing that weapon and bringing in to a community space. This event is just one in an escalating series of violent events involving youth. These events have centered the immediate need for increased and improved youth programming in our community. Across the country and here in St. Pete, one of the best indicators of where we see more violence is where there's a lack of involvement in a local community. We need to address the violence as root, which means supporting the community is most impacted. So I'm here today asking that council please invest in the future of the youth of St. Petersburg and fund increased and more and improved youth programming. Thank you. Thank you. Next two speakers please. Lama Ahasan and Amber Hurley. Please go to I of the podium. State your name and address for the record and you have three minutes to address the council. Oh, you can come over to this one. Hi, my name is Lama, Al-Hasan, I live at 500-011 Starfish Drive. We've been talking a lot about the need to stop being violence in our communities, and our budget should actually reflect that. Citizens are looking for our tax dollars to prioritize the people's needs, which, based on our outreach at the the Bay Area Dream Defenders is more accessible youth programming. Many of you here are aware of the SAVOR streets proposal and the SAVOR streets proposal is actually a public safety measure. So we believe that this funding should come from a part of the city's public safety budget. For that reason, we demand that there be no increase for the police budget and instead we increase the public safety budget to support this proposal. In conversations that we've had with community members and local organizations and even city council, we hear that there's not enough being done around youth programs and as we've heard from a lot of people today that sentiment is echoed. We really need to find ways to support the kids. And when we are divesting from communities, we are essentially being told, and by we, I mean, y'all, because we are not divesting, y'all are divesting. And when you are divesting from communities, we're being told that we don't matter. And we see this consistently, especially in South St. Pete and predominantly black neighborhoods. When asking about programs for youth, we hear, oh, there's this program or that program available, but what we are missing is actually a holistic approach. Not only do we know that there's gaps in programs today, the ones that don't exist, especially for teens, but we're missing ways to help parents navigate all of this. As part of the Saver Streets proposal, we're asking the city to invest in paid positions to engage in outreach to the community, to boost awareness, and use the programs available to them. These community engagement specialists would be created and funded to ensure that community programs and others support that the city can offer to families are actually being used. This means not just making an office that people can reach out to, but having representatives go into the communities, especially door to door and provide information and walking folks through the steps needed to get access to the programs and the benefits that they can utilize. We're aware that there is a position now that exists, that sits with kids and their parents after a conflict occurs, but these community engagement specialists would actually be proactive and used to help prevent violence from occurring in the first place. Actions are louder than words, and we don't want promises that things like affordable housing is coming, or community investment is coming, or safe neighborhoods are coming. We want actions and we want you to make it so. It should be reflected as a holistic approach in the budget itself. So we demand that our city's budget supports our call to save our streets. Thank you. Hi, my name is Amber Hurley and I live at 1,500-11th north. I'm asking for the city to fund youth programming and also community outreach about that programs. think other folks have already said that there are really incredible programs that the city does But they're under advertised and they're underused We really need to fund active outreach like other folks have talked about I can just say as the person who Worked really really hard to get five trees planted in my neighborhood through the tree grant last year. There was so little outreach from the city regarding it and everyone was trying their best, but ultimately, neighbors do not know about these programs. And so if we're not actively funding outreach about that, then we can't really expect people to come. This isn't a, you know, build it and they will come. If you build it, you have to tell them that it exists and then they will come. So I'm advocating for the city to put in an effort and really make sure that people can find and use these incredible programs by hiring outreach coordinators and other folks who will be engaging in the community, going door to door, doing the things that make a difference here. Thanks. Thank you. Next two speakers please. is going to be in zoom Mr. Chair Christy Faust please once you enter into the meeting space please unmute yourself say to yourself here. Thanks. Thank you. Next speaker please. Next speaker is going to be in Zoom. Mr. Chair, Christie Faust. Please, once you're entering to the meeting space, please unmute yourself. Say it's your name and address for the record. You have three minutes to address council. Christie? Hi there. I'm Dr. Christie Faust. I use she, her pronouns. I live at 75329th Avenue South in the Harbordale neighborhood. First, I want to name that I heard different efforts to support our youth in the St.P. presentation at the beginning, but I am proceeding with my original written comments just because I don't know how to edit. So I'm zooming in in support of Dream Defenders Request for a budget allocation for the Save Our Streets campaign. The City of St.P. just lost two more of our young people to gun violence. That's too too many and then go backwards in time. A budget is a moral document that should prioritize the people's needs and the public health crisis of gun violence in St. Pete has gone unaddressed for too long. As a partial solution, we need more youth programming for young people of all ages that is accessible in every way to families and directly to the young folks. The city has great programs in different departments, but families don't know about them or can't easily access them. Since Savor Streets is a public safety measure, the public safety budget should be increased to support these youth programs and access to the programs, police budgets should not be increased. Across the country, including St. Pete, we see less violence in areas that are fully invested in. We must address gun violence at the root. And this means investing in communities most impacted by violence, by gun violence. Primarily areas in South St. Pete. on pillar three of St. Pete's preliminary budget allocations titled Neighborhoods Health and Safety, I'd like to see Save Our Streets listed among other initiatives. And I'd also like to see Community-focused initiatives listed and prioritize first and police last. When St. Pete gets to the point that it does that, we'll have true neighborhood safety. I also just wanna back up. I also wanna say I am a cyclist. I cyclist pretty regularly in a decent number of miles, I guess, at least in my mind. And I also support the Safe Streets Guide. We lose too many cyclists. We are in national news about how many pedestrians and cyclists that lose their lives. And again, that is also an investment problem. Many of those deaths could be avoided with good infrastructure. There's been, I have seen some efforts happening and we'd love to see we need a lot more, a lot more done in that area as well. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next to speakers please. Your Donna Smola and Leyna Vu, please go to either podium. State your name and address for the rest of the room. Thank you next to speakers please Your Donna Smola and Lane of Vue please go to either podium state your name and address for the record and you have three minutes to address city council Hi, my name is Yardana Smola with Bay Area Junifenders. I live at 2000 Gandy Boulevard North in St. Petersburg. I'm here once again to advocate for resources for youth programming in the fiscal year 2026 budget for the city of St. Pete. Multiple council members also included youth programs and services as part of their budget priorities when it was submitted a couple months ago as a result of the January budget priority city council meeting. We've also met with various city council members and also with many community partners about the need we're hearing from the community, especially within the child's part community. From the last few years of not only needing more programs, but also making them more accessible and more well-known. One of the biggest needs we're hearing from the community is more outreach to understand fully all of the current programs that exist and to receive up-to-date information about them and how to access them. We've met with the Parks and Rec Department last week, and we suggested additional outreach tactics, such as door knocking, and they need to go back to door to door door knocking, which they have done in the past, but had recently stopped. In order to better do outreach in the community, this can be done through community engagement specialist, which multiple people have mentioned before, outlined in our proposal. This proposal is also a public safety measure. Currently in the city's fiscal year 2025 budget, the police budget sits at about $160 million, which is around $13 million increase from fiscal year 2024. We demand no increase to the police budget for fiscal year 2026 and instead include any proposed increases towards funding more outreach for these youth programs as a mechanism to deter gun violence in order to better support the community. Thank you. My name is Lena Wu. I'm at 7725 78th Street North and I'm here to support the demands of these Saver streets campaign by the Dream Defenders because we need a budget that reflects the needs of our community. I'm a case manager for many families across Saint-P and I've also done some outreach with Dream Defenders going door-to-door and something that many residents mentioned that they wanted was accessible programs for the youth, like we've been talking about. And studies have shown that the best public safety strategy is investment in the local community, not policing. And I really want to emphasize that particular point. Nobody said they wanted to see more police or police with more weapons, especially weapons that shouldn't even be in this community or any community. And on that note, I wanted to mention that violence thrives when there's neglect where stable and affordable housing, jobs with livable wages, health care, and youth programs are out of reach. That is why we must invest in meeting people's basic needs and why we're calling for accessible, fully funded youth programs so that young people have a space where they can grow, learn, and connect without barriers. And I know that some youth programs like this exist in St. Pete, but not everybody is aware. And that is only one of many barriers that people are facing when it comes to these programs. There's also affordability and transportation and more. And I saw that the program that you talked about earlier, that it was mainly addressing mental health needs, but you can't talk about mental health without talking about the environmental and socioeconomic factors that tie into that. And this isn't just about programs, it's about priorities. A budget that pumps millions into policing while underfunding communities is a choice, one that perpetuates a cycle of harm, especially impacting communities that have already been marginalized like Black and Brown and low-income communities. So we urge you to listen to the community and invest in solutions that attack the issue at the root, not reactionary ones, redirect public safety funds to youth programs and outreach and create paid positions to connect community members with resources. Thank you. Thank you. Next speakers, Paul Kurtz and Kisha Brundridge. Please go to I of the podium. State your name and address for the record. You have three minutes to address city council. Okay, I am Keisha B. King. I reside at 55543 South St. Pete, Florida, 33711. I'm here on behalf of Drina Finnes and the Child's Park Neighborhood Association. What I want to do is go over two very, very important points as across the county. Here in St. Pete one of the best indicators of where we see more violence where there is a lack of investment in local community we need to address violence at the root which means supporting communities most impacted. And unfortunately it is the south side of St. Pete. I also work in, I work in schools as a substitute teacher. That's one of my jobs is working as self-employment. But I also have a son in our public school system. So as I go to work each and every day, it is a battle I hear teachers are very, you know, worried about what happens when these kids leave the school. A lot of them are unattended for, a lot of them, the students at home, they're more welcome to be at school than be at home. So that it becomes a problem. So we need these after school programs as I stand here on several accounts. You're going to continue to see us, because we're going to continue to stand here. And if we have the beg of that's what youall call it, we're going to continue to fight for our children. Because when violence happens in our back doors, then it is a need for us to do something about it. Especially when a lot of these parents including myself who work in and out, we don't have a lot of the funding for that. So if there were a lot of programs that were free to the community, then that would assist some of us parents who are working in and out each day, trying to provide for our children. So if you can just think about those children that are needing funding for those after school programs, that would be a benefit to us as a whole community. So yeah, I'm looking at it as a parent, and I'm also in the schools working as well and in the community, and it's much needed, and I appreciate your time and efforts. Thank you so much. Good evening, Paulz, 910 31st Terrace Northeast. I'd like to talk a moment about safety. In my opinion, the city's highest priority should be keeping its citizens safe. And that starts with public safety, fire, police, first responders, and also extends the infrastructure. We provide clean water, sanitation, the basic necessities, but this should also extend to streets and sidewalks. I feel that our streets are not quite safe enough right now and I think we can do better. Everyone who arrived today was a pedestrian when they came, so in terms of keeping folks safe, that should be a basic priority. The good news is the city has just undertaken a safety study for sidewalks. That's moving forward. We do have some money allocated for that. I'm very pleased with that. Thank you, Mayor. The typically what we see is the city spends for the past couple fiscal years about a less than one half of 1% on pedestrian bicycle safety projects. The good news is that this year the city has recommended spending a bit more of the city's dollar on this. Thank you, Mayor and staff for that. The challenge is we are not anticipating any matching grants from DOT. So our overall expenditure for bike-ped safety will be a bit lower. So I'm respectfully requesting that you consider adding additional funding for bike-ped safety for this fiscal year. Thank you. Thank you. Next two speakers please. Jay James and I believe is Daniel Cronodle. I can't read the last letters. Please go to either podium. Say it's your name and address with a record and you have three minutes to address the council. I'm sorry. Yeah. I'm gonna wear a cap this time. I'm sorry. Hello, my name is Jay James. My pronouns are they demand theirs. 2042 27 Street South St. Petersburg, Florida 33712. My lifelong resident of the city, the original nation, native for the and resident families have been here for over 100 years and over 200 years in this state. I am tired. I am tired of waking up or being called in the middle of the night to learn another baby has been killed. What are y'all doing about it? We've been coming for years saying we need more youth programs, we need children, we need people to go and tell these kids, is there any families that these programs have been, I mean, assist, you know, to make them free, to make them fully accessible. What are y'all doing? What, 13 years old, 14 years old, killed, what, the other day? And 13 years old has been arrested for it. That's two babies. And 11 years old, killed a month ago. then what, it's just happening too much. And I am tired. I am tired. And I am angry. It's not just been since we've been doing the same. Our streets can't be re-bond coming for a decade talking about this to you all. A decade is still nothing has been done. Police ain't go solve this. Police are a thing that's after the fact. If we really want to get to the near-degree, they're not going to solve the root problems which we all should know is poverty but you know that may not be something y'all have full control over. But do I have control over funding youth programs? You have control over providing transportation for two and four of these youth programs? You have control over highly staff to go door to door having good conversations with people. The things we do for free. You all have the funds to do that. Well, $156 million, something like that, budget for the police. And we still lose in the babies. I am tired. Are you not tired? I know I am. I am angry. Thank you. Hi, my name is Daniel Camardella. I live at at 2726, second Avenue South. I'm a lifelong St. Pete resident. I grew up here. I've been riding my bike here since I was in middle school. And I'm here to talk about safety. Like it seems most people here are in some form or another. The bike transit that I do looks a whole lot like it did Quarter of a century ago. There's been some improvements. There's some bike lanes. We appreciate it We thank you for the progress, but it's not enough. I've been hit before the person who hit me didn't value cyclists life enough To stop the police officer who I had to limp across the street in order to tell him that I just been in the hit and run was fairly indifferent to the whole thing because honestly there's just a whole culture here that cyclists are not equal. So I'm here to ask for the city to step up. I know we're just like they're saying we're losing federal grant money. It's on us to make these improvements. And in the meantime, I'm seeing, I don't know, how many millions of dollars get put into fourth street to get new medians, with having an north millions of dollars to get put in new medians. And I know a lot of that is FDOT money, and not necessarily a city budget, but it's still reflective of the priorities of this city. We need to step up. people are dying. I could have died. I have friends who are in a nursing home right now because they were turned into vegetables because of me and hit by cars. I can't emphasize enough the importance here. In the meantime, I know we all paint a bike symbol onto a gutter and then say you've added however many miles of bike lanes and patch yourselves in the back for that. Paint is not protection. We need protected bike lanes. We need the city to step up. So my main takeaway here is I would like you all to prioritize. Let's worry less about making same-peasy place to drive to. And let's worry more about making a good place to live. So thank you. We have one more Zoom speaker. Claire. Amber, I'm excuse me. Amanda Brzicki, once you enter into the meeting space, please state your name and address for the record and you have three minutes to address it accounts. I'll mute yourself. Amanda. Hi. Hi, my name is Dr. Amanda Brzicki. I live live at 832-44th Avenue, Northeast. Thanks for having me. Here, I'm really pleased to see that there's a focus on resilience, especially after the recent hurricanes, Helene and Milton. My home was flooded during Hurricane Helene in a neighborhood that's never flooded in from what I can find of known history. The rebuild process has been disastrous. A homeowner, you can't even begin to imagine the trauma that comes with your home being completely ruined, let alone all of your neighbors and neighboring neighborhoods. My home only sustained about six inches of water, which is so much less than many other residents in the nearby neighborhoods. I'm really excited to see endeavors for ensuring the community can respond to some of these unprecedented issues like the plumbing shut off and the use of aquafenses to keep important facilities safe during the storm since floods. What needs to be addressed is the staffing in the Permian's office to actually allow residents to get back into their home. We are coming up on seven months of losing our home, and we've been stalled for almost three months due to the permanent office. The permits office claims to be overworked. They're working in overtime, and there's nothing that they can do. I went there today, and unfortunately no one was able to help me. They're unable to answer the phone calls. My contractor has been calling every other day with no answer. My husband was on the phone for 20 minutes to have no phone picked up today. They're unable to see appointments. They won't speak to people in person. This has been the biggest barrier to getting people back into their homes and it brings significant amount of stress to all the residents who are going through this already terrible process. The city needs to ensure that they are stacked to handle a disaster like this because it's not if, but when this will happen again. Probably this year. I hope I'm back in my home before that happens. There are so many homeowners doing unpermanent work because it is the only way to get back into your home in a reasonable amount of time. And if the problem truly is staffing, then this is what needs to be addressed and budgeted for. My experience, unfortunately, is not unique. I'm a local veterinarian and I speak to members of this community every single day. There are still people who are finding to get their initial permits approved. We are tired and we really want to get back into our homes and live in this city that we love so much. We need to support residents in time of these severe disasters and not just make them feel like they are alone. Please ensure that staffing is not an excuse to handle these environmental crises that will continue to happen in this beautiful city. Thank you. Thank you. Any more speakers, Claire? We're speakers, Mr. Chair. Okay, council members, any comments? Council member Gevens. Thank you, Chair. want to take a moment to thank each and every one of you for attending on this evening This is my first time sitting on this side of the dies as a council member and I can tell you it it's a different perspective To see and to hear the passion in your voices. I want you to know. I share your concerns I share concerns when it comes to infrastructure. I see how our streets are in terrible condition. I see how our lateral leaking pipelines are long overdue for replacements and upgrades. I see how we need to invest in our youth. We need to prioritize public safety. We need to make sure that there are an expansion of services when it comes to before and after school care program. I'm happy that you brought up your situation that you experienced over at the library. I'm sorry that that was your experience, but it was brought to my attention, which is why I want to see more done to protect our city staff members. You know, if we have a metal detector and security coming in the city hall and MSC building, why don't we have that going into our libraries where our precious children are that's important. So I again I echo your sentiments I believe that our budget should be reflective of our values so I want you to know dream defenders I see you I hear you I was standing there with you ten years ago so I'm excited to be advocating our youth. I want you to know our youth have a strong advocate in me because I believe that they are our greatest asset. We should put our money where our mouth is. Our kids are our greatest investment. They are our future. And I want to make sure that we are protecting them. I believe in our police department and the work that they're doing, but I also believe that we need boots on the ground. I know we have folks who are out there doing engagement, but they aren't the right people. They aren't the folks. These are the people who are out there with the boots on the ground, talking to the folks who we need to be engaging, the people who aren't already reaching, who aren't already on our mailers, who aren't coming to these meetings. We need to be hitting the ground running with the folks who are already connected to the community. But on doors. because there is a need for more community navigators because we have too many resources out there that folks don't know about. I went out there and I knocked on doors with our police officers to try to engage folks in Jordan Park and in Charles Park, letting them know we have opportunities for your kids and at least 75% of the doors that I knocked on said they had no idea so we have to do a better job. It's not that we aren't doing a good job, excuse me, a job, but we got to do a better job. So thank you so much. I appreciate it, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Vice Chair Hanowitz. Thank you, Chair. And I also like to thank everyone for being here, those that are present, those that are watching, those that called in and shared their thoughts on the budget. I, along with my colleagues, take this part of our job duty seriously. This is one of the main things we do is work on the budget along with administration. And we're not the only ones that make a decision. We work in collaboration with administration. They have one-on-one state. Listen to what we have to present. They work collaboratively with us. They work collaboratively with the community. And at the end of the day, there are unlimited needs and limited resources. And that's a challenge that this year more than ever. We are facing. So we are listening, but I want everyone to know it is going to be a challenging year. That is with no doubt. We see it at the federal level, what's happening, grant money that are being decreased at every, turn around. They are grant money that are being taken away from us every day. And those are the challenges that we're facing as a city. We're dealing with the storm issues that we've heard from speakers and administration has done a really good job at working with all council members and citizens to try to address their needs. But still, we are facing it's with permitting whether it's getting reimbursement believe it or not from Pima we have $250 million that we had in hurricane needs and we are still waiting for a majority of that money to come and we had to borrow money to actually float us during that time to take care of those issues but it's things that we are doing and we are continuing to focus on all these issues, whether it is safety, whether it is resilience, sustainability, whether it's our infrastructure, we're trying to handle all the things that are coming at us and we're listening to you. So I want you to ensure that you know that and we're working with you. So thank you for being here. Thank you. Councilmember Gabbard. Was that Councilmember Gabbard? Yeah. Oh, oh yes, we switched seats. So I got I got I got you. Councilmember Hardin. Great. Good evening everyone. I just wanted to quickly say thank you all for coming out this evening. We spend a lot of time as council members speaking in these halls and tonight is all about listening to you. And so I just wanna thank you briefly for coming out, for sharing your concerns. I wanna thank the Dream Defenders. You, we met together and I really appreciate you sharing in your vision and what I appreciate most about all of you is your consistency. You continue to show up every single time and hold us accountable and I want to thank you for that and for your continued commitment to our youth. And to those of you who are coming this evening to speak on any issue. It doesn't matter what the issue is. Every issue is important to our city and as Councilmember Vice Chair Hannah-Witz said, resources are strained, resources are limited, we have some tough times ahead of us, but I assure you that the council that you have is committed to finding a way to try to balance those priorities and do the most that we can with the resources that we have. So I just wanna thank you all again for coming here. This is my eighth budget cycle. I think I'm the veteran on the council this evening. And so I always enjoyed this piece of it because like I said, we do a lot of talking here, but tonight is your opportunity to share with us. And so I just thank you again and look forward to continuing to work with all of you throughout this process. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, before I turn it back over to the mayor for closing remarks, just again, I'll echo my colleagues just very much, very thankful for the engagement. Not only just tonight, the emails, the in-person meetings, the phone calls, all of the above, and then the Councilmember Gabbard said continuing to show up, being a part of the process all throughout the year. It's one of my favorite parts about this, for sure, is that collaboration. And so I want to thank my colleagues for all the work that they've done so far, and I know that they will will be doing on the budget I want to thank the continued collaboration with administration and with the residents and Thank you again for being here for listening for watching and for being a part of the process Mayor I'll turn it over to you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman I like you and the council would like to thank everyone who came out We talk about the Stewart principle of unlimited Needs and limited resources but our goals are the same. I just want to speak to a couple of issues. I do owe Ila an email, so I got our email address. We're going to email her back on the Duke Energy issue. Just wanted to know folks to know that we are listening. I talked to the Dream Defenders last year. I think I walked you in and showed you the whiteboard of the position that we already had allocated for community engagement. That is Lisa Willard-Bomin. And it is after there is an incident. We also have added jobs programs. We've added education programs to Shirley Proctor. Puller, puller, proctor. We've added safe Friday nights. One thing we heard was there was no safe place for the kids to go. So we added that over several Friday afternoons last summer, where kids had a safe place to go with movies, pizza, you name it. We, of course, added the hubs for mental health care in South St. Pete. And we also, as I talked about earlier, added $1 million in the innovative equity program. Specifically for kids to get in trouble. And you know, we talked about, unfortunately, the last two young men who were killed had extensive records. If we can get to them after the first or second time, we can change that trajectory. So we're going to continue to work on that. I've gone door to door as well with our programs. And you don't get a lot of folks when you go door to door. But anything we can do if there's ideas on how we can reach folks programs that can make a difference that we're not funding right now, we want to hear about it because we're moving in that right direction. But at the end of the day, one thing that we've've got coming up I don't know if we've shared it with council yet Rob but we're going to have a session for parents and grandparents on how they can navigate social media and be more effective working with their children and grandchildren because a lot of these guns are accessed either through stolen cars or through social media. You can get a gun through social media. So we are trying to be as innovative as possible. We are funding those things, those are our priorities. I'll again say it's not an either or whether we fund the police or fund these programs. We're going to fund both and that includes increasing call. And we continue to listen to you and move forward on those issues where we have consensus. I do wanna thank our library employees. They did come to City Hall on tour and shared those stories with me and I was just as concerned. Obviously, it's everyone else. So that is something that we're working on and Chief Holloway has an update on that specific incident if he can share that with you all. And thank you all. Thank you Mr. Trem. Thank you Mayor. Chief Holloway welcome. Good evening Chair Council members. I just thought you know under Mayor's direction also we have already started programs a couple of years ago we have a team investigator that anytime a gun is used or someone far as a weapon, we send detectives out to the scene that day now. So when the incident happened in the library which was unfortunate, we sent some people out within 48 hours. We had someone in custody. The young man is in custody that had the weapon. Also at the direction of assistant chief Gilliam, he now has the ulcers doing what's called direct patrols that are going to the libraries and writing their reports and these instruct them to do this for the whole summer. So we do care about our employee, we do care about the people in our city. So when there is any time we see a child with a weapon or we hear gunshots, we sit now officers to the scene where we can try to either recover the shell casing or try to get information as quickly as possible before someone is seriously killed. Thank you for the update, Chief. Okay, well if there's nothing else, thank you everybody for being here and we'll go ahead and close our budget open house for FY26. Thank you everybody. Thank you everybody. Thank you.