02-11-19 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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REGULAR MEETING February 11, 2019 this issue and the benefit for the intended individuals in our community as a whole. So, thank you very much for your work on this. Councilmember Oliver Davis interrupted, I would like to thank you for your comments, Councilmember Broden. Go ahead, finish. Councilmember Jo M. Broden continued, In the context of the Health and Public Safety Committee, I think, I share a particular responsibility, along with the members of that Committee, to help advance this conversation along the goals that I mentioned but then also the accountability and the due diligence with regard to this proposal tonight and the one(1)previous. I want to make sure that I'm not kicking the burden elsewhere. I think there is a real specific area that the responsibility of the Council could be held. Councilmember Sharon L. McBride stated, I think as we continue with the collaborative efforts with homelessness,the Gateway and now with this Resolution,that is heading in the right direction for this community. I think not only would it increase the taxes of having employment but the income stability of the individuals. So, I'm in support of the Resolution. I would also like to echo that now it is time to finally have some teeth. Now is the time. I think what you are proposing is for us to make sure that we all work together with service providers and continue working with the Administration to get it done. Councilmember Regina Williams-Preston stated, I had the great fortune to be at a listening session the other night on homelessness and the concept was to actually hear from people who are experiencing homelessness about the issue. One (1) of those gentlemen spoke tonight and I was really touched by him and by many people there. I think that while we are having this discussion, I recommend we do not forget to bring and make sure that people who are experiencing the homelessness are at the center of that conversation, they are a part of that conversation and even driving it. All of the solutions are there. They understand the barriers. So, as we create programming, we can eliminate all the things we didn't think of when we include them in the conversation. So, I would encourage that as well. Also, what I learned was I was deeply affected by one (1) gentleman who got up there and put us on the spot. He said, you know what, we've been talking about this too long. We talk and talk and talk and yet, people are still on the streets. I would also encourage that while we need to have good discussion and engage those experiencing homelessness, we need to go ahead and set a date to start the pilot because there is also a way in which when we pilot a program we can learn more and move and at the same time we are helping people. That is the message that I got from people who are in these desperate situations. I want to thank Councilmember Davis and Councilmember White for bringing this back to the table. Again, as Council Members we can make recommendations, but we have to have our City's Administration put this in action. There are many things. We just recently said we are going to raise water rates without having some of the plans or ideas on what other things we can do to help relieve the burden, but we said nope we need to start this now so let's put this on the table. If we could put a date on something like that, I think that when we have people who are really hurting and are in need, we need a date when we get something started. That is my recommendation and again, thank you all for moving this forward. Councilmember Tim Scott stated, Finally, going last as President you get your thunder stolen. I first(1St)would like to thank all the Council Members for their words. Thank you Councilmember White and Councilmember Davis for bringing this back and resetting this. I completely agree with just about everybody up here. I agree with Councilmember Williams-Preston, a plan is nothing without action. Now it is time to take action. Collaboration was said Councilmember McBride and Broden, and it is true. It is a true collaborative effort. So many people think that the City needs to do it all and make the world better. No, it is a collaboration. People on the street and the responsibility of all the stakeholders. It is us Council Members,the Administration and citizens all working together. That is what we need to do. There is a reset here. Those who have sponsored this one (1) and those who sponsored the one (1) in the past, please be that leader and drive this forward. Councilmember Karen White replied, In response to all the comments, it is going to take each and every one of us collectively working with our social service providers and our Administration. Work is currently being done when we talk about the Gateway information. We have to pull all 10