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From YouTube: Monday, June 17, 2019, Albany Common Council Meeting
Description
Legislation Passed - Ordinance 34.61.19R (Robinson)
B
A
A
B
D
C
C
Thank
You.
Mr.
president,
this
is
a
great
honor
for
me
on
this
evening.
I
grew
up
around
the
corner
and
still
reside
around
the
corner
from
is
Vera
Mike
Mickelson
and
she
was
always
a
strong
advocate
in
our
and
our
community.
Bishop
Desmond
Tutu
said
that
if
you
are
neutral
in
situations
of
injustice,
you
have
chosen
the
side
of
the
oppressor.
If
an
elephant
has
his
foot
on
the
tail
of
a
mouse,
and
you
say
to
that
Mouse
you
are
neutral.
The
mouse
will
not
appreciate
your
neutrality.
C
Many
of
us
know
that
Mike
Vera
Mickelson
was
not
a
person
to
stay
in
neutral.
Wherever
there
was
an
injustice,
she
gave
her
voice
to
those
who
are
voiceless.
She
gave
her
strength
to
those
who
grew
weary
in
the
fight.
I
had
the
privilege
of
not
just
knowing
Mike
as
an
activist
or
a
community
organizer,
but
as
a
neighbor,
she
took
pride
in
her
community
and
convince
others
to
take
the
same
pride.
C
Well
whether
it
was
making
people
pick
up
garbage,
they
had
dropped,
I'm,
making
sure
political
candidates
walked
her
community
to
engage
with
those
they
wanted
to
represent.
She
ensured
that
her
community
in
West,
Hill,
wasn't
left
out
of
the
equation.
Growing
up
Mike
was
able
to
convince
many
neighborhood
children,
including
myself,
to
interrupt
their
play
to
help
put
lawn
signs
and
acts.
C
If
we
knew
about
the
candidates
who
are
running
for
various
offices,
it
is
in
hindsight
that
I
see
that
this
was
her
way
of
teaching
us
that
we
have
to
know
who
is
leading
us
and
we
have
to
become
a
part
of
the
conversation
conversation.
The
street
renaming
will
serve
as
a
reminder
that
we
cannot
remain
neutral,
but
every
day
we
must
take
up
the
mantle
and
continue
to
fight
against
injustice.
E
Thank
You,
mr.
president,
I
didn't
know
Vera
on
a
personal
level.
I
believe
I
met
her
at
the
YMCA
and
she
just
came
in
and
turned
to
turn
the
TV
off
of
Sports
Center,
so
I
thought
she
worked
there
and
then
I
found
out
that
she
did
and
then
I
went
over
and
whispered
in
her
ear,
I
say:
hey
I
was
watching
that
and
so
that
that
started
of
us
talking
in
and
I
know
a
lot
of
times.
E
We
seem
to
be
on
different
sides
of
the
opinion,
but
one
of
the
things
that
I
truly
respected
about
her
is
that
she
stood
up
and
advocated
and
fought
for
issues
that
really
she
didn't
have
to
fight.
For
so
you
know,
people
who
fight
it
and
and
I
mean
everywhere.
She
will
everywhere.
You
went
and
it
was
issues
on
the
table
and
especially
inner-city
issues.
She
will
pop
up
so
as
I
got
more
active,
I
grew.
E
I
grew
to
have
a
lot
of
respect
for
her
and
I
was
saddened
when
I
heard
that
she
passed
away
and
wanted
to
say
something
at
the
memorial
that
they
have
for
her.
So
you
know
I
want
to
take
this
opportunity
to
say
that
I
appreciated
her
effort.
We
had
a
lot
of
mutual
friends.
People
that
I've
respect
I
have
a
great
deal
of
respect,
for
they
had
even
more
respect
for
her.
So
it
wasn't
easy.
E
I
mean
it
wasn't
hard
for
me
to
begin
to
see
who
she
was
as
a
person
and
I
just
wanted
to
be
able
to
say
that
I
appreciated
her
effort.
It
was
much
needed
and
and
I
hope
that
her
energy
continues
on
and
her
effort
is
reached
one
day
that
it
could
be
justice
for
everybody,
so
great
job
Mike
as
you
would
prefer
to
be
referred
to
and
I'm
gonna
see
you
when
I'm
gonna
see
you
thank
you.
Thank
You.
B
Know
we
have
some
of
the
family
members
here
and
I
want
to
thank
you
for
sharing
her
with
us,
because
she
was
a
passionate
person
in
our
community,
as
everyone
here
is
saying,
but
she
was
also
genuine.
She
genuinely
cared
about
her
neighbors.
She
genuinely
cared
about
those
who
were
being
oppressed
and
she
stood
up
for
it
and
she
she
had
the
moral
courage
to
stand
up
for
things.
We
think
today
seem
normal,
but
20
30
years
ago
were
not
and
she
stood
up
when
others
didn't
she
made
others
stand
up.
B
F
Thank
You
mr.
president,
I
I
have
so
many
fond
memories
of
fear
of
Michelson,
and
you
know,
just
as
you
were
saying
she
always
seemed
to
pop
up
well,
she
was
always
present,
especially
when
there
was
an
issue
that
had
to
do
with
our
underserved
communities,
and
she
was
just
always
such
an
important
voice
for
those
communities.
F
In
particular,
I
have
many
memories
of
her
being
involved
in
our
years
of
discussion
about
turning
to
becoming
a
more
community
policing,
oriented
city,
and
she
was
very
active
in
that
always
coming
to
council
meetings
and
speaking
out
she's
also
very
involved
politically
working
very
hard
to
get
good
representatives
elected
she's,
she's,
someone
who
really
is
unforgettable
and
played
such
an
important
role
in
our
community.
Thank
you.
Thank.
A
I'd
like
to
you
know
every
body
has
a
lot
to
say
from
Mike
and
I'm,
not
gonna,
repeat
it,
because
over
and
over,
we
know
the
pipe
the
person
she
was
I
just
like
to
thank
her
for
challenging
me
to
be
better
challenging
our
city
to
be
better
and
challenging
everyone
to
look
inside
themselves
and
be
better
and
I'm.
Gonna
miss
her.
It's
tough
for
me
to
talk
about
people
when
they're
gone,
but
she
was
a
jewel
of
this
city
and
all
the
compliments
and
the
recognition
she
received
is
more
than.
A
G
H
H
She
always
put
people
first
before
herself,
which
we
all
know,
but
everyone's
leaving
out
how
funny
she
was
Vera
was
like
funny
and
she
and
if
you
weren't
doing
right,
she
got
after
you
and
I
I
appreciated
that
she
was
the
driving
force
behind
me
in
the
many
of
folk
I
mean
she
get
after
you.
She
get
ideas
and
always
whether
it's
roots
or
paths
I
remember
do
starting
with
path
where
we
were
making
sure
the
kids
from
Livingston
middle
school
could
get
home
because
there
they
were
having
some
issues
over
there.
H
That's
when
I
first
met
her
and
my
colleague
mr.
Ballard
over
here,
but
always
full
of
energy
non-stop,
and
that's
that's
what
I
remember
and
you
know,
there's
there's
not
a
time
I'm
out
dealing
with
community
and
working
that
I,
don't
I.
Don't
she
doesn't
come
to
mind
inside
that?
What
would
Vera
do
or
what
would
he
say?
Just
I
don't
know
I
miss
her.
Thank
thank
you.
A
I
Want
to
thank
everybody
for
the
wonderful
kind
words
I
know
from
knowing
Mike
all
my
life
that
she
loved.
This
city
came
here
in
the
60s
after
graduating
from
college
and
did
everything
she
could
to
make
sure
that
the
city
was
a
better
place
for
people.
So
what
you've
said
rings
a
bell
with
me
and
it
it
touches
my
heart
because
it's
it's
true
what
you
all
said.
I
A
Now
getting
back
to
a
regular
jinda
public
comment,
each
speaker
is
allowed
to
speak
five
minutes
on
a
subject.
They
choose
to
speak
on
this
time.
At
that
time,
no
councilmembers
can
answer
your
questions
or
say
anything
in
response
to
your
public
statements.
If
they
choose
to
do
so,
comm
Common
Council
members
will
do
so
later
in
the
meeting.
All
public
comments
needs
to
be
respectful
and
if
not
I
will
stop
the
speaker
at
that
time.
So
let's
be
respectful
and
can
the
clerk
please
call
the
first
speaker,
andrea.
D
A
J
Good
evening,
members
of
the
Common
Council,
my
name-
is
Jean
Solon
I
live
in
the
New
Scotland
neighborhood
at
16
Prospect
Terrace
I'd,
like
to
speak
tonight
about
an
issue
of
Neighborhood
Development.
The
Albany
unified,
sustainable
development
ordinance
was
adopted
in
2017
to
protect
and
preserve
the
city's
residential
neighborhoods.
J
D
K
K
Business
Review
dated
June
4th
the
mayor
said
that
we
have
changed
our
zoning
code
so
that
it
is
open
and
transparent
and
has
resulted
in
increased
development,
which
is
good
for
all
of
us
and
I.
Don't
have
any
problem
of
that
statement.
That's
a
wonderful
story
and
I
certainly
hope
it's
true.
She
continued
saying
it
results
in
increasing
our
tax
base
so
that
we
can
continue
to
provide
essential
services
for
our
residents.
K
That
may
or
may
not
be
the
case.
Subsequently,
the
interview
was
published
on
the
4th.
The
Albany
Times
Union
on
the
12
had
an
editorial
entitled
hold
up
on
this
tax
bake
break
and
they
start
out
saying
between
all
the
public
buildings
and
private
tax
breaks.
They
helped
fund
Albany
taxpayers
been
pining
the
city's
economic
development
pump
for
years
now,
yet
another
private
developer
wants
millions
of
dollars
in
tax
breaks
for
project
downtown,
and
this
refers
to
the
Pioneer
company's
project
with
the
Hilton.
K
In
point
of
fact,
with
all
of
the
25
or
so
major
development
planning
board,
each
are
expected
to
go
before
the
city's
eye-dea
to
seek
to
enter
into
a
pilot
agreement
rather
than
paying
the
taxes
that
we
all
pay,
not
just
residential
customers,
but
business
customers
that
would
be
in
competition
with
these
folks
as
well.
We
also
have
statements
in
this
article
that
the
project
would
not
have
occurred
were
not
for
pilots,
and
the
additional
money
must
be
perhaps
forked
over
by
the
government.
I
just
don't
see
how
this
is
increasing.
K
K
Every
single
one
of
these
projects
is
reviewed
for
impacts
on
water,
sewer
and
stormwater
runoff,
and
they
all
have
to
meet
requirements
so
that
we
are
able
to
move
forward
and
approve
those
developments
again.
That's
a
beautiful
story
and
I
certainly
hope
that
that
was
true
in
the
case
of
12
11
western
as
most
certainly
not
the
case.
K
If
you
take
a
look
at
the
Planning
Board's
decision,
they
decided
on
that
application
to
approve
we've
conditioned
and
those
conditions
also
sought
approval
by
Albany
County,
as
well
as
the
Albany
Water
Board
for
connection
to
the
sewer
system.
It
does
not
exist
and
although
details
of
what
the
Builder
may
do
may
have
been
filed
with
the
Planning
Board,
there
had
been
no
assurance
that
basic
needs
of
the
building
had
approval.
K
K
F
L
L
We've
made
some
strides
in
this
country,
but
sadly
not
enough
I
think
that's
evident
with
a
lot
of
stuff.
That's
been
going
on,
especially
with
police
interactions,
with
the
rise
of
social
media.
Just
a
couple
right
here
in
our
own
City,
the
past
couple
of
years,
Dante
Ivy,
Eleazar
Williams,
and
the
incident
on
First
Street.
L
L
L
About
a
year
later,
I
think
a
woman
named
Justine
dem
demand.
A
white
woman
was
killed
by
an
officer
Mohammed
nor
I.
Believe
a
Somali
immigrant
and
I.
Remember
saying
to
myself.
When
I
saw
the
story,
it
will
be
very
interesting
to
see
in
the
wake
of
the
phenomenal
Castile
verdict,
how
that
turned
out.
L
So
the
officer
fired
into
the
car
killed.
Falando
Castile
was
acquitted
of
all
charges
or
did
not
face
charges,
I,
don't
remember
which
one
Muhammad
nor
it
was
basically
the
same
situation,
just
steamed
them
out
and
called
the
police,
because
she
was
a
victim
of
some
sort
of
crime
or
a
break-in,
or
something
like
that
approach,
the
police,
car
and
officer
nor
fired
a
couple
shots
and
killed
her.
L
M
N
Good
evening
my
name
is
Spencer
Ragusa
I've
over
thirteen
beech,
Avenue
and
I'm
here
to
protest.
12
11,
Western
Avenue,
along
with
New
Scotland
Avenue,
along
with
cloven
Avenue.
These
this
council
has
been
talking
over
and
over
and
over
that
they
talked
about
a
moratorium
and
they
want
to
keep
on
talking
and
talking.
I
think
the
time
has
come
that
we
have
to
stop
talking.
We
have
to
do
an
action
I
think
we
should
have
a
moratorium
on
anything
hired
in
three
three
stories.
N
Western
Avenue
is
going
to
be
seven
stories
without
the
mechanical
stuff
on
top
of
the
roof,
so
we're
looking
at
7-7
to
half
stories
the
next
size
that
you'll
find
it's
down
on
Lark
Street.
The
other
thing
I
like
to
bring
out
if
you
notice
all
these
buildings,
that's
been
built
from
17
to
present
time
that
they're
all
upscale
housing.
N
Where
is
affordable
housing?
How
can
how
can
somebody,
the
in
Awards,
not
demand
that
some
of
these
developments
go
to
them?
You
have
building
with
X's.
We
have
building
with
X's
out
by
me.
But
again,
how
can
you
not
say
how
can
this
city
shuffle
everybody
up
into
the
outer
city
and
forget
about
the
inner
city,
god
I
mean
I
was
born
down
there,
myself
and
I
I
just
can't
believe
that
they
put
a
negative
on
the
inner
city.
The
other
thing
is
this:
affordable
housing
you'll
never
see
it
out
by
us
again.
N
It's
all
upscale
housing,
it's
a!
If
that's
what
they
advertise
the
place.
That's
fifteen!
Sixteen
hundred
dollars,
I,
don't
even
believe
some
of
the
residents
in
my
in
the
15th
Ward
can
afford
that
I
mean
most
of
them
are
immigrants
that
that
migrated
out
there
and
were
up
in
age.
There's
no
doubt
about
it.
So
I
think
it's
time
that
we
stop
talking
and
and
say:
we've
got
to
put
a
moratorium
on
on
some
of
the
stuff
that's
taking
place,
if
not,
then
I
think
we're
doomed.
N
Iii
have
to
say
that
the
other
thing
is
that
you
can't
find
out
anything
about
1211,
Western
Avenue,
because
that's
my
baby
and
if
I
call
down
there
I
do
know
that
I
was
told
that
on
1211,
which
is
age
engineering,
that
their
new
building
will
be
ready
at
the
end
of
June,
so
I
called
down
to
the
building
and
code.
Compliance
as
I
says,
has
a
anything
been
issued
with
demolition
thing
been
issued
on
1211,
nothing.
You
don't
hear
nothing.
N
I
says
how
does
it
stand
that
we're
allowing
work
to
be
done
and
the
overhead
lines
are
still
the
voltage
lines
are
still
up
there,
even
though
the
chief
fire
chief
said
no
work
is
to
be
done
on
that
building
until
the
lines
are
buried.
The
chief
didn't
automatically
come
up
with
that.
Out
of
the
clear
blue
sky,
he
wrote
that
to
protect
the
the
fire
department,
the
men
in
the
fire
department
that
have
to
respond
to
possibly
an
emergency
at
that
building
and
according
to
Chris
Spencer,
nothing
can
be
done.
N
Don't
they'll
do
an
occupancy
permit
and
then
the
boyars
have
to
be
buried.
Well,
if
I
do
an
occupancy
permit
at
that
particular
time.
Well,
the
building's
already
built
what
am
I
gonna
do
with
it.
So
there's
so
many
things
wrong
with
1211
that
the
us
do
and
Chris
Spencer
doesn't
follow
and
I
I
don't
know
what
to
do
anymore
and
so
guys,
I
think
we
have
to
stop
talking
and
I
think
we
have
to
sit
down
and
say
what
are
we
going
to
do?
Are
we
gonna
put
a
moratorium?
A
D
F
O
O
We
have
several
members
of
the
support
group
that
reside
in
Albany
and
I'm
here
tonight
to
to
urge
you
to
support.
We
have
we
have
sickle
cell
treatment
act
in
India
Assembly
in
the
assembly.
It's
number:
oh,
six,
four,
nine
three
and
in
the
Senate,
it's
so2
to
8
1
and
we
have
June
19th.
This
Wednesday
June
19
is
World
sickle-cell
day.
O
A
Q
The
General
Services
Committee
met
on
June
6
to
consider
the
aspects
of
resolution.
86
102
18
are
the
equity
agenda
as
they
relate
to
the
general
services
department,
I
sent
out
to
all
of
the
council
members
or
Michelle
sent
out
for
for
us
the
minutes
from
that
meeting,
which
are
pretty
detailed,
and
they
also
include
a
couple
of
attachments.
The
Capital
District
Transportation
Committee
rate.
Q
I
obviously
will
not
go
to
the
whole
thing
or
would
take
the
rest
of
the
meeting,
but
I
urge
you
to
read
it
and
just
a
couple
of
things
that
I
do
want
to
point
out.
The
equity
agenda
views
not
only
streets
but
sidewalks.
We
have
no
rating
system
for
sidewalks,
so
that
was
a
request
made
to
the
General
Services
Department
and
they
also
request
electronic
records
of
complaints
and
the
only
electronic
records
that
we
have
now.
Q
Our
SeeClickFix-
and
it
was
determined
that
see,
click
fix,
is
not
always
reliable
because
they
had
some
requests
on
the
currency.
Click
fix
that
are
well
over
a
year
old
that
have
been
corrected,
and
then
they
have
some
that
claim
to
have
been
corrected,
but
either
have
not
been
order
record.
So
we've
not
seen
as
an
accurate
reflection
of
the
condition
of
the
pace
of
repair
on
on
our
streets.
The
other
point
was
Parks
and
Recreation.
Q
That's
a
shared
responsibility
that
Department
doesn't
exist,
so
we
asked
TGS
to
come
back
to
us
at
a
later
date,
with
the
breakout
of
exactly
how
the
shared
responsibility
for
parks
is
enacted,
because
they
advised
us
that
even
the
water
department
maintained
some
of
our
our
parks,
but
the
biggest
concern
that
the
Commissioner
raised
with
us
is
that
he
has
a
20%
vacancy
in
boots-on-the-ground
position.
These
are
the
people
who
will
actually
repair
our
streets,
sidewalks
and
prune
our
trees,
and
that
is
obviously
impacting
his
ability
to
provide
services
that
the
city
should
expect.
Q
So
we
basically
invited
them
to
give
us
some
ideas
of
how
he
might
develop
a
plan.
Yet
from
financing
working
conditions
or
whatever
to
address
the
fact
that
20%
of
the
money
which
we
budget
for
the
workers
who
are
going
to
perform
these
tasks,
that
we
expect
to
be
done,
aren't
there
they
leave
the
department,
and
so
there
were
a
lot
of
issues
which
came
up.
We
didn't
think
that,
in
fact,
we
didn't
take
the
vote
on
it.
Q
We
basically
follow
the
suggestion
of
the
commissioner
and
other
folks
at
at
the
meeting
that
we
detailed
to
the
commissioner
things.
We
would
like
him
to
report
back
to
us
in
August
so
that
we
can
get
sort
of
a
handle
on
what
abilities
the
department
really
has
to
equitably,
maintain
its
streets,
sidewalks
parks
throughout
the
city
and
now
that's
complicated
by
the
fact.
I
believe
that
the
total
responsibility
for
going
forward
on
this
particular
resolution
is
being
taken
from
the
various
committees
and
entrusted
to
the
law
committee.
I.
Q
R
You,
mr.
president,
the
Park
Select
Committee
met
June
11th
to
discuss
the
programs
throughout
the
city
and
I
believe
the
one
thing
is
they're
not
equitably
distributed
out
throughout
the
city.
We
learned
that
Hoffman
Park
has
programs
consistently
throughout
the
day
from
8:00
to
12:00
a
break
and
then
from
one
of
four.
We
did
learn
that
Livingston
Park
only
has
programs
from
8
to
12
or
8
to
1.
So
we
addressed
that
concerned.
That
was
those
are
really
the
two
parks
throughout
the
whole
city
that
have
programs.
R
R
So
Jonathan
Joan
currently
has
about
10
to
15
questions
that
we
asked
him
to
address
and
hopefully
I
can
get
them
soon,
and
but
the
main
concern
is
the
programs
that
liver
sting
Park
needs
to
have
activities
for
kids
at
night,
because
that's
when
a
lot
of
the
crime
and
the
shenanigans
happens
with
these
kids
at
night.
So
thank
you
and
hopefully
we'll
get
back.
Mr.
A
R
A
R
P
P
Pretending
to
the
keeping
of
hens,
there
has
been
a
meeting
on
that
and
I
believe
there's
some
sort
of
compromise.
They
took
my
suggestion
of
making
it
a
pilot
project
and
the
other
one
we
it's
concerning
vacant
buildings
and
inspections
in
proof
of
winterization,
etc.
So
they'll
both
be
taking
up
this
Wednesday.
Thank
you.
Thank.
A
D
A
A
B
D
H
A
C
C
Councilman
love,
clears
and
also
Johnson,
also
dr.,
Brenda
Robinson,
and
one
of
the
results
that
came
out
with
that
meeting
was
that
we
will
put
parkerich
parkerich
aids
into
a
live
stand
Park,
and
that
did
happen
on
last
year
and
I
heard
that
it
was
successful
and
it
also
allowed
for
provided
some
jobs
for
some
of
our
community
members
for
that
for
the
summer
last
year
and
I'm
praying
that
we
can
have
to
talk
to
Commissioner
Jones
that
we
can
do
that.
Do
to
do
that
again.
C
Also
to
mr.
Raghu
Soze
statement
about
the
inner
city
standing
up
for
some
of
these
issues
on
development.
That
is
something
that
is
on
me
and
miss
Joyce
love,
something
that
we
are
fighting
a
very
hard
for
to
have
equity
in
development
when
it
comes,
and
when
development
comes
to
the
city
and
also
for
other
developers
to
have
committee
doing
the
benefits
agreements
in
place
with
the
communities
that
they
develop
in
so
that
you
know,
some
of
these
issues
can
be
avoided.