2026-11-05 - City Council Meeting

Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Good evening everyone and welcome to the November 5th meeting of the Ann Arbor City Council. If you're able, please rise and join us for a moment of silence followed by the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Would our clerk please call the roll of council? >> Councilmember Dish? >> Here. >> Councilmember Harrison? >> Here. >> Councilmember Watson? >> Here. >> Councilmember Malloy? >> Here. >> Councilmember Radina? >> Here. >> Councilmember Ghazi Edwin? >> Here. >> Mayor Taylor? >> Here. >> Councilmember Eyer? >> Here. >> Councilmember Akmon? Absent. Councilmember Briggs? >> Here. >> Councilmember Cornell? Absent. We have a quorum. >> Can I have a motion, please, to approve the agenda? Moved by Councilmember Radina, seconded by Councilmember Malik. Discussion, please, of the agenda. Councilmember uh Eyer. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh I'd like to add an item to the agenda. Um beginning of introductions, I would like to add uh congressional record statement from Congresswoman Debbie Dingell. >> Is there a second? Seconded by Councilmember Radina. >> [gasps] >> Uh All in favor? Opposed? It's added. Further discussion of the agenda. Councilmember Radina. >> Um Thank you, Mayor. I would move to add the uh proposed resolution to the end of the the DC uh new business council section CC5. >> Seconded by Councilmember Malik. Discussion? All in favor? Opposed? Uh you said DC5? >> Yeah. >> Thank you. It is up uh the amendment is approved. Further discussion of the agenda as amended. All in favor? All opposed? It is approved. Are there communications today from our city administrator? >> No, Mayor. >> We now have the the pleasure of the attendance and the uh and the and the um the wi- the wisdom of our representative, Mrs. Debbie Dingell. >> Good evening. I wanted to come for the Mayor's last meeting because you know, no matter where you are on issues, we need to thank people for public service. And the Mayor [snorts] has been in serving the people of Ypsilanti since 2008, first city council off for almost 20 years, and for the last 12 years. And he loves this And people don't know how hard public service is these days. How you get the phone calls at 3:00 in the morning about trash and about snow removal and you know, real fire sirens that matter, emergency sirens. And I want to say that the mayor loves this city. And he um I I just we're living in times where it becomes so easy to demonize elected officials. And we're seeing it more. Nor do we understand the toll that it takes on families. I've been there. I know what it's like and the time away from your spouse and your children and how hard it is when people attack them. So, I And by the way, I'd like to say the mayor has personally protected me. Well, this is not a joke. When people have publicly threatened to kill me or he's done it This is not on more than one occasion. And that should never be. I would like to see Ann Arbor be a model of what this country should be and that we stand up to hate wherever and whenever we see it against any community. And I know that has been something the mayor has stood for. And I thank you for saving me more than once cuz I don't believe in autocracies and I know I drive the police chief crazy because I'm me and I don't like anybody else. So, around me. I like So, the mayor's been my bodyguard, too. But I have a resolution because I want to thank you for caring about the city, for the years of public service that you have given >> [snorts] >> and that I want to thank your family and we love you, too. And Ann Arbor is a better place because of the contributions that you have made. Thank you, Mayor Taylor, for your service. Thank you. >> THANK YOU. >> [applause] >> WELL, THANK YOU, MRS. DINGELL. AS I HAVE OFTEN SAID, ANN ARBOR has no no more earnest friend than than Representative Debbie Dingell. If there is anything that the city needs with respect to the federal government or the you know, often for the state government, too, for that matter. If you know, if we want to if we want it done, if we want it addressed, if we want someone fighting for us every single day with with fervor and passion and skill, this is Debbie Dingell. Thank you. >> [applause] >> WE NOW HAVE THE REPORT FROM THE INDEPENDENT Community Police Oversight Commission. Cheryl, you have the con. Thank you for coming. >> Good evening, Mr. Mayor, city council members, city administrator, clerk, as well as the community. My name is Muhammad Abdallah. I'm the chair of the Ann Arbor Independent Police Oversight Commission. Our report for this evening is um the commissioners. We currently have uh serving commissioners. after the council had confirmed two new uh commissioners. Thank you for that. Um we had one commissioner resign due to uh his busy schedule and frequent travel which uh would interfere with his commitment to ECAB. Um we will uh be taking uh a review will be reviewing uh the term limits of the uh >> [snorts] >> and the policy committee uh was assigned to look into the language of the term limits in the ordinance and the bylaws. And recommendations will be discussed in our November 24th uh meeting. It's important to amend the term limit as it stands today. Um we may lose three to four commissioners by the end of uh May 31st, 2027 due to term limits. Um it took a long time to recruit new commissioners and we don't want to be in a situation where we cannot function because we cannot meet due to lack of quorum. Updates on this issue will be presented to the council in uh future reports. Uh complaints Uh as of today we had received um 34 35 complaints um from the community. Um reports were generated for most of them uh as they were completed by APD uh investigations and uh they were they reports were communicated to the complainants. APD had completed um another three uh complaints and uh will be generating reports for those uh two. Um I'll be also uh talking about some of these um uh complaints a little bit later in the uh presentation. Uh meetings I had this today at the transparency meeting with uh Lieutenant King and Sergeant Merkel of APD Professional Standards Section to review the complaints so supportive materials such as body worn camera videos, uh, reports will uh, for those complaints will be generated and passed to the complainants. Uh, in terms of training uh, five commissioners attended a Taser 10 training session October 29th at the police department. This was a a a result of a meeting I had with Chief Anderson. We want to understand more about this new Taser 10 uh, and when and how it will be deployed and under what circumstances and the justifications for uh, their use. Uh, the policy committee will review the current APD policies regarding the use of Taser 10. Um, there was a slide presentation of the history of Taser in general as well as on the uses of Taser. Uh, as part of the training commissioners had a chance to fire Taser 10 against a stationary target. We came out of the training with better understanding of the weapon. Uh, this knowledge will help us in case we receive any complaints in the future uh, regarding the use of this weapon. Another training session will be uh, scheduled for the rest of the commissioners who could not attend the first training session. Um, City Council uh, will write a resolution of the persons of exper persons experiencing homelessness. Um, there was a uh, a little bit of discussion about that at our meeting and um, Council member Herson discussed the briefly the resolution and sent us the text of that so we'll have an access to the text and will be discussing this in more details in our November 24th meeting. Um, ECPAC as in the past would like to support this resolution. As in the past we supported the unarmed response. Um Why APD is interested in this resolution? Uh one of the reasons is that we received about almost a third of our complaints in the past four or five months from a homeless person regarding their interaction with the police as being targeted, harassed by APD uh police officers. We understand the responsibility of the police officers in ensuring safety of all uh and to making sure that laws, ordinances uh are not violated. We also understand the complexity of homelessness and the measures currently taken uh will temporarily solve the issues uh without finding alternative and permanent solutions to homelessness, uh complaining about this interaction between APD officers and the homeless individuals will probably surface again. And just before closing, um I would like to uh thank Mayor Taylor and the council members who are leaving uh the council. Uh Mayor Taylor, thank you for the many years of service and leadership and for your friendship. And uh I'm quite fortunate to have uh to come to have known you over the past number of years. Um And uh we wish you all the yourself as well as the uh leaving uh council members the best of luck with your current and future endeavors. And this is my report for the evening. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> We uh we now come to public comment reserve time. Public comment reserve time is an opportunity for members of the public to speak to council and the community about matters of municipal interest. To speak at public comment reserve time one needs to have signed up in advance by contacting our city clerk. Speakers in all instances will have 3 minutes in which to speak. So, please pay close attention to the time. Our clerk or the time clock will notify you when 30 seconds are remaining and when your time has expired. When your time has expired, please conclude your remarks and cede the floor. Our first speaker today is Ken Garber. >> Thank you, Mayor Taylor and Council. Ken Garber, Second Ward. I'm here to speak about item CA2, resolution to approve SpringHill Suites development agreement, 2295 South State Street. But first, I too would like to thank you, Mayor Taylor, and outgoing Council members Gussie, Edwin, Ackman, and Watson for your service on Council. Like Debbie Dingle, I fully get that this is really a tough job, one I would never ask to do. So, I'm glad that you you've done it and I wish you well. Um so, SpringHill Suites. Um I was excited about this hotel at the July 21st Planning Commission meeting. Architect Scott Bowers promised this would be an all-electric building. That's the minimum our A20 Climate Action Plan requires, but many developers still go with gas. Both the rooms and common areas of this hotel will have electric heat, Mr. Bowers said, and the building won't even need a backup gas generator. Modern hotels don't need fossil fuels to keep guests guests comfortable and provide the necessary services. So, this was music to my ears. Um so, why isn't all-electric in the development agreement? At the July 21st Planning Commission meeting, Commissioner Sarah Hammersmith asked city planner Alexis DeLeo that very question. Um Commissioner Hammersmith said, "Is there anything that we can do to make sure that this gets codified?" Uh Planner DeLeo, uh you have my word that I will put it in. I do suppose you could amend the the resolution, but I hereby solemnly swear that I will add it to the development agreement. End quote. Um So, the Planning Commission didn't bother uh amending the motion in order to add building electrification to the development agreement because I had staff's word that it would be there. Um now I've scoured the development agreement on Legistar that's in your packet tonight and there's not a word about electric building electrification. Um zero. Um I'm absolutely not saying that planner De Leo lied. Uh I know her, she has great integrity, she would never do that. Um so I'm I'm here tonight to ask your help in solving this puzzle. Um I if I had to guess, probably the developer reneged on its promise since July 21st. Um that promise was the only reason that the planning commission didn't move to add building electrification to its site plan approval rating at that meeting. Um so if that happened, you need to send this development agreement back to staff so that electrification could be added back in as both the developer and staff promised it would. At the very least, we need to know why the promises made on July 21st are not reflected in this development agreement. Um if it's the case of the developer just changed their minds and decided to use gas, that's not just a broken promise. Uh it's yet another blow to our city's climate action goals. So um there it is. I really need your help in figuring out why um the agreement made on July 21st is not reflected in the development agreement uh on your table tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Alex Low. Alex Low. >> Mayor, he's actually on Zoom. Alex Low? You have a comment? Go ahead. >> Good evening, Council. Um normally I have something planned, but um in light of today be uh being a day when we re uh remember the uh the treachery of uh of religious extremists and burn them in effigy. And it being, you know, hour 48 of my ongoing party in uh uh from the balloon army on Tuesday, I hope you'll forgive me that I'm just going on vibes tonight. >> [clears throat] >> Um I'd like to thank you for the uh legislation to the agenda about adjusting the um uh the terms for the city council members who were reelected. I honestly would go further and and say we should just keep the adjust the terms for all council members so that the council has full continuity. Um on that note, I would like to thank all of the the outgoing council members for your service. Uh especially my Ward 3 council member Gazi Erden who has been absolutely fantastic her entire way through. Thank you so much and have a great evening. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Adam Juskaevich. >> Hi, my name is Adam Juskaevich. I live in the fourth ward. I'd like to speak tonight about a few things starting with the report on bike lane obstructions. Maintaining our [snorts] bike lanes and sidewalks free from obstructions is important to the safety and accessibility of our transportation network. Obstructions force people out into traffic. Drivers may [clears throat] not be expecting a cyclist to suddenly take the lane to avoid a parked car or a curb cart. There are unfortunately many people who routinely place their curb carts in the bike lanes week after week. Submitting SeeClickFix SeeClickFix tickets has not had an impact. I'd like to see community standards do random spot checks on garbage day throughout the city. More proactive enforcement is needed since the complaint driven model does not appear to be working. A citywide education campaign may also be necessary to remind people of proper placement. While some of the newer bike way designs with curbs or posts may make placement more complicated, people struggle with this even on the regular painted bike gutters as well. Another sort of obstruction I've seen frequently is drivers blocking the box. This happens a lot downtown, such as at Main and Liberty and at Washington, but also throughout the city along major corridors. Drivers pull into the intersection despite not having enough room to clear it. The result is several cars stopped within the intersection, blocking drivers on the cross street, and frequently blocking crosswalks where pedestrians have the right of way. This [snorts] is a dangerous situation, and I hope to see an enforcement campaign to ticket drivers who do this before someone gets hurt. I'd like to remind these impatient and careless drivers that your time is not worth hurting someone. Finally, I'd like to thank my own council member Dharma Akmon, who's unfortunately not here tonight, as well as council members Watson and Khazi Edwin, and of course most especially Mayor Christopher Taylor for your service to our community. Thank you for your thoughtful words at this table and careful stewardship of our city through your time on this body. We as members of the public certainly did not make this job any easier, and the abuse that you endure simply because you've devoted yourselves to public service is frankly embarrassing. For my part, I truly appreciate the sacrifices you all make and the leadership and community mindedness you demonstrate. Thank you. >> Thank you. Our next speaker, Kitty Kahn. >> We believe the speaker is on Zoom. Caller with the phone number ending in 345, press star six to unmute your phone. Go ahead. >> Hi, this is Kitty Kahn, calling in from the fifth ward. I'm calling to object to our tax dollars paying for the lawsuit the mayor and city council filed against proposal e and Ann Arbor public power. The city's legal team led by four city attorneys and two outside attorneys from the Dykema Law Firm filed the case in Washtenaw County Circuit Court asking a judge to declare proposal e illegal eight days before the November 3rd election. Even though the suit is now being withdrawn, I'm sure those two outside attorneys will bill the city for their time spent. I find it hypocritical that city council spread lots of misinformation including that the mere passage of proposal e would cause financial risk to [clears throat] Ann Arbor taxpayers. And then they spent our tax money on a frivolous and ultimately unnecessary lawsuit. Dykema Dykema attorneys should be paid from the mayor's so-called Ann Arbor for everyone pet not from our taxes. Thank you. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Abigail Strand. >> Good evening. My name is Abigail Strand. I'm from Grand Rapids, Michigan and I'm a sophomore student in Dr. Aisha Ghazi Edwin's community action social change class. First, I want to start by telling you about a book that I love that has shaped my understanding of social change which is Heartstopper by Alice Oseman. It's a sensitive kind book about caring for your friends through tough times, navigating your social identity as a queer young person and despite bullying and mental health struggles falling in love and a healthy relationship. Because of its diverse LGBTQ plus cast, this book has been challenged or banned in libraries across the US and was recently challenged at the Bellaire Public Library in Northern Michigan. LGBTQ plus and black and brown characters and topics of inclusivity and social justice are top justifications for book bans. And starting in 2022, the ACLU of Michigan has tracked a new increase in book bans in our state, bringing up first amendment concerns around the censorship of POC and queer stories. However, right now 16 copies of Heartstopper are on the shelves across the Ann Arbor District's libraries branches. Unlike many other cities in Michigan, the AADL has so far not experienced bad faith book challenges that aim to censor diverse stories. I spoke with Sara Weddell, the AADL Collections Manager this morning, and she explained that Ann Arbor Library remains inclusive for many reasons. These include its thorough review process for any book challenges that might arise, the librarians trust that the library board would support uh the librarians in their decisions in the case of book challenges, and the progressive inclusive culture of the Ann Arbor community that would make any racist, homophobic, or transphobic book challenges very unsuccessful. However, Michigan libraries without strong policies that protect the freedom to read and that don't have supportive library boards are much more susceptible to book censorship. On the national level, as you might know, legislators in both the House and the Senate have introduced bills restricting sexually oriented material, which encompasses material featuring transgender and gender queer people to students under 18. In resistance to this type of censorship censorship, states including Illinois, California, Colorado, Minnesota, Maryland, Vermont, and Washington have passed statewide laws protecting the fruit right to read freely with a variety of success rates. I want to thank the City Council for their support of the AADL's inclusive anti-censorship policies so far, for helping make Ann Arbor a place where, unlike other Michigan communities, the the chance of book censorship is very low. I also want to ask any continuing council members to strengthen their support, firstly by passing a resolution that protects Ann Arbor residents right to make their own decisions about what to read. And secondly, by helping the AADL continue to provide free access to a diverse variety of books in schools, libraries, and elsewhere. I hope that an anti-book ban resolution like this in Ann Arbor can build awareness of book banning and could even be a starting point for statewide anti-censorship legislation. Thank you all for your time. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is David Smith. >> Good evening, Mayor and members of City Council. My name is David Smith. I'm a student at the University of Michigan and a resident of Saga Ann Arbor. I'm here tonight to raise concerns about the ventilation and temperature control systems in my apartment building. And more broadly, the importance of ensuring adequate living conditions for students in Ann Arbor. Over the past week, my apartment has consistently reached temperatures between 75° and 78°, sometimes higher, even when outdoor temperatures are in the 40s and 50s. What makes this particularly difficult is that none of our windows can be open. We have no way to bring cooler outdoor air into the apartment ourselves, and changing our thermostat settings provides no effective control over the temperature. I've raised these concerns with Saga management multiple times, both in person and through maintenance requests. Initially, the response was consistently that the building's cooling tower had been winterized and that air conditioning was unavailable. I understand that explanation, but my concern has always been about adequate living adequate ventilation and the inability to regulate indoor temperatures in an apartment with sealed windows. Earlier this week, maintenance conducted a more thorough inspection and discovered that our bathroom ventilation openings were nearly completely closed. However, however, those have since been opened, which I appreciate. Even after this adjustment, our apartment still reaches 75° in the evening, only dropping to approximately 75° overnight. Maintenance also informed me that our unit lacks certain ventilation openings beneath the windows that other apartments have, making it more difficult to regulate our indoor environment. They've explained that the cooling tower shut down early for a planned replacement this winter. At this point, the practical solution we've been offered is to essentially wait out until outdoor temperatures become cold enough for apartment to cool down. I do want to acknowledge that the maintenance team has begun taking steps to address these concerns, and I appreciate their recent efforts. My frustration isn't with any individual employee, but rather with the fact that the underlying problem remains unresolved. And I think this speaks to a broader concern for students living in Ann Arbor. Housing costs are already significant are a significant financial burden for students and their families. I personally pay over $1,600 per month, including utilities and fees, for a single bedroom in a shared apartment. And that's relatively inexpensive compared to other student housing options in Ann Arbor and Ann Arbor, where individual bedrooms can exceed over $2,000 per month. When students are paying these amounts to live near campus, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect basic comfort, adequate ventilation, and some meaningful control over our living conditions. Ultimately, this isn't just about the temperature in my apartment, it's about making sure that students paying thousands of dollars every month for housing can expect basic comfort and reasonable living conditions. I'm simply asking for the city to investigate whether the ventilation system serving the affected units at Saga are adequate and whether practical solutions can be provided while mechanical cooling is unavailable. More broadly, I hope the city will continue to work to ensure that the cost of student housing in Ann Arbor rises and the quality of the living conditions students receive keeps pace. Thank you for the time, and thank you for departing members of council and Mayor Taylor. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Chuck Warpehoski. >> Good evening, Mayor Taylor, members of council. Uh Chuck Warpehoski, former city council member. First of all, Mayor Taylor, I want to let you know things are life is good on this side of the dais. You've got some things to look forward to. I also wanted to say a deep, heartfelt thank you for the years of service you've given to our city. You served [snorts] with honor, you served with poise, and you served with a deep commitment to show giving all members of our community, whether they live here, work here, or visit here, deep respect, and I'm grateful. We see that every time there's a city council meeting and we go through the public comment public hearing process. People have strong feelings. Sometimes they're not treating you with kindness and respect or council members with kindness and respect, but you always show them kindness respect, a thank you, courtesy, and dignity that all members of our community deserve, and you live that out every meeting, and I'm grateful. I've also seen a strong commitment from you to let your internal sense of what is right guide your policy decisions over political calculations. Dr. Offman gave the IKPAC report earlier today, and as we were working on trying to fit craft policy to initially set up the independent police oversight commission, there was a lot of difficult decisions. How do we balance the need to protect uh the privacy of people who are making complaints, the privacy of individuals who are alleged of wrongdoing or criminal activity with the need for transparency and openness in our process. It was difficult. There were conflicting perspectives, and there was a lot of political dynamics to navigate with that. I forget the specific moment or topic we were discussing, but I remember we're going through all of those areas, and he said, "Well, this is the right thing to do. So, this is what we're going to do." The political issues set aside, you had a read for what you believed was the right thing, and that's where you stood, and that's how you moved That's how you've governed as mayor with a strong commitment to your own moral compass. In a world where we're not seeing a lot of that from our elected leaders, um hopefully we'll see things a little bit better come January. Um that unwavering commitment to do what was right for a the community is something I honor and cherish. Thank you for your years of service, and enjoy your life on this side of the dais. Thank you. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Brandon Dimcha. >> Mayor, this caller is on Zoom. >> [clears throat] >> Brandon Dimcha? Go ahead. >> Hello, uh Mayor and Council. Uh I did not know I was going to have to follow Congresswoman Dingell. That's sort of unfair. So, um, apologies for not being up to her standards, but um, I mean, as you as I'm sure you all know, uh, I no longer live in Ann Arbor, but I always consider I will always consider Ann Arbor to be my home. Um, I was proud to work to get, um, you elected. And I think it is Ann Arbor's loss that we are, um, not going to have Council Member Ackermann, Council Member Ghazi Edwin, Council Member Watson, and Mayor Taylor serving the community anymore. Uh, I just want to say thank you for all your years of service. Um, and I will see you around town when I come and visit. So, thank you. And enjoy your time. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Our next speaker is Michael Edwin. >> Oh, no. I'm freezing up already. Hi. My name's Michael Edwin, and I am the husband of Council Member Aisha Ghazi Edwin. And I just wanted to take a minute here to say some, uh, words about my amazing wife. When Aisha first decided to run, our two boys were 5 months and 3 years old. We were new home homeowners, both had very hectic jobs. Uh, most everyone we talked to thought we were absolutely crazy, um, for her to run for office at that time. And honestly, it probably was. But, the craziness of the world doesn't doesn't care about the craziness of everyday life. And too much was happening for her not to step up. One of the many reasons I supported her decision was because her ideas, her passion, her care about the community she grew up in was too great to be kept inside of our house. She knew she was meant to do more and she knew she could do more through public service. And I believed in her ability to make positive changes in our community. I'm so proud of all that she's accomplished in the last 4 years. Her intense focus on making Ann Arbor more accessible, pushing back against DTE, working to enact accessibility laws like right to sit, unafraid of standing up for human rights both here and around the world, securing funding for the first free splash pad in Ann Arbor for children of all abilities in an area where parents and kids don't often have the resources to pay to swim on a hot day. Isha, you put so much thought and care into every vote and decision you made. And while I may not miss all the late nights of council work, the impromptu policy conversations at home, many of which ended with us explaining to our kids the difference between an argument and a discussion, I know those conversations led to so many positive changes in our city. Isha, you made me so proud. You made our kids so proud, your family so proud and the community so proud. You stood up during difficult times. You dealt with angry emails with grace. You responded to racism and xenophobia with strength and love and you never lost sight of the importance of the work you were doing. You said yes, you can't yes, I can when others said no, you can't. I think one of the goal of any elected official should be to leave things better than you found them. And Isha, that's exactly what you did. Love you and thank you for your service. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Ned Staebler. >> Sorry, I didn't have an before I was coming here. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor and to the whole council. I know we have some outgoing council members here. I want to thank you all for your service. I also know that people usually get up and talk to council in the public comment period, but honestly, I don't want to talk to y'all. I'm what the public could talk to the public. I think it's important. I wanted to make sure I got this into the record and that people here could hear about it tonight. Don't worry, I'm not going to yell at you even obliquely. I just want to tell a story about 18 years ago. Christopher Taylor and his lovely wife Eva came over for brunch one Sunday morning. And as we usually do, we got talking about the world and local politics and what was happening. And for those of you old enough to remember, back then the Great Recession was about to hit us. And there was a great deal of uncertainty about what was going to happen to our jobs and to our community and to our city. And at that time the local city council was talking about chickens. That was the issue of the day. And Christopher was complaining about it. He said, "Why are they not caring about the important issues?" And I said, "Christopher, you should run for city council." And he said, "If why would I possibly do that? Local politics is crazy. Don't you like me? Why would you want me to do something like that?" And I said, "Christopher, if good, honest, smart, hard-working people like you don't run for council, don't go into public service, what we're left with is chickens." He left. He did not agree to do it. I went home. I'm sure Eva twisted his arm that night. And he called me the next day and he said, "Were you serious about that? Do you think we could really do it?" Well, long story short, Christopher ended up running and joining and eventually leading and then help building one of the most successful Ann Arbor City Councils that we've had in literally generations. I could read you all of the accomplishments. Whether it was setting up an actual successful sustainable energy utility uh publicly running the city or uh I don't know, a big affordable climate millage or my one of my personal favorites is someone who used to chair the HHSAB, reloading the affordable housing trust fund because we emptied it out during the Great Recession. And I could just do that. And Diane, that would be great. But, you know, and I know of what I speak. My family moved here in 1831, according to that, about 220 years before the city was incorporated. And this is the best mayor the city of Ann Arbor has ever have. My great-grandfather was the mayor 100 years ago, and this is the best mayor we have ever had. With honesty, thoughtfulness, consensus building, tireless dedication, he's made Ann Arbor more vibrant, more financially stable, and more culturally relevant, and just a great place to live, work, and raise a family than it has ever been. We all owe you a debt of gratitude, and I wanted to come personally and tell you how much I respect and appreciate you as a leader, and a mayor, and a neighbor, and a friend. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> [cough] >> Our next speaker is Ruby Taylor. >> Mayor, this caller is on Zoom. Ruby Taylor? >> Hi. >> Go ahead. >> Great. Thank you. Um yes, I'm Ruby Taylor. I am Mayor Taylor's daughter. And I'm calling in from New York City, where I live and work, um to express my deepest gratitude and love for my dad and the way that he has served on council and as mayor um in public service these past 18 years. Um I was 6 years old in 2008 when he was first elected to council, and I am genuinely so proud of what I've seen him do um and how much [clears throat] he's given himself to the city and his constituents over those years, but without ever sacrificing being a deeply loving and present parent. I wanted to share a quick anecdote from a few summers ago that characterizes um my experience of my dad in his role as mayor in many ways. Um and this was relating to new streetlights that were put in as part of a sustainability effort, I believe, um in some neighborhoods. And there were some constituents who were having worries about these streetlights being too bright or too dim. I don't quite uh remember, but the point was that they reached out to their mayor. And so later that day, or should I say night, we were out driving in neighborhoods and looking at the size of the of the light that was being emitted from the old kind of bulb and the new kind of bulb and comparing them and really getting to the bottom of the viability of these new streetlights. Um and this experience was unlike others that I usually had, um but totally exemplified what I saw my dad doing as a public servant, which was engaging um genuinely [clears throat] and with whole heart in the nitty-gritty unglamorous work um that that that's part of the job. Um and so Dad, I just wanted to call in to say how proud I am of what you've done um the past 18 years for Ann Arbor. And yeah, how lucky I feel to have grown up um >> [clears throat] >> watching you pour your heart into this. So, thank you. I love you. >> Thank you, darling. Our next speaker is Jackie Alexander. >> Hello. For Mayor Chris, there are a plethora of truths about Mayor, our city ambassador. One being that many of us look up to him, literally. Metaphorically, he stands tall. In every ribbon cutting, parade, protest, council meeting, celebration, present, open, always smiling, ready to be of service to anyone and everyone, small or tall, hard or soft, erratic or easygoing. Doesn't seem to get too flustered or too rattled even when the room hits capacity of picketers and protesters, he's an emblem of equanimity, of calm, often in a room in a world of chaos. For me, he has been a cocktail of decency and directness. Post October 7th, when the when it felt that every city council meeting was a platform for the Middle East conflict abroad, pitting neighbor against neighbor, lefties against lefties, he navigated connections, negotiated solutions, crafted words that said, "We hear you." What more can we ask from a public servant to accept to be heard, listened to, advocated for, protected? Today, of all days on his last day, there's an ordinance that we will put forth about protection to pray and believe and be able to enter a space of worship without being protested. There are a thousand origami cranes that Chris has folded and crafted in his tenure, but this final crane seems fitting as it encapsulates to me the many folds of his political life, culture, community, and safety into one. And for we that I am grateful. Fly. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Jeremy Haley. >> Jeremy Haley, Ypsilanti Township. First, I'd like to thank the mayor and the council members who will no longer be with us, but thank you for all the times that you have served. It is a hard thing to do to sit and do what you do and hear some of the things that you do here. So, thank you again and hopefully that won't be your last time serving the public. Uh moving on. Uh I remember or recall that you guys are having some kind of paper produced on kind of racial inequities in Ann Arbor by the What is it? The Brookings or Hoover Hoover Institute? One of those one of them. And I was wondering if they're going to include the Treaty of 1817, which is the first original indiscretion where it gave I guess then the College of Detroit 1,900 some acres to that college taken from where they had taken it from the indigenous people. So, that would be the first indiscretion of this area that it should be noted in the paper. And it was from that land that created U of M. They piecemealed and sold out through the early years and went on to make U of M. And the long way I bring that up in that treaty, they said if we if you do this, uh we'll educate your people in our institution. That did not happen until 1970 until a person sued the university to honor that agreement from that treaty. To not not be mentioned in that paper would kind of be a big oversight. As going on, why I bring up U of M, and this goes along with the county. Uh I'm familiar with you guys with West Willow. And right now the county and my commissioner's gone through to get the racial slander limitations out of the deed that still exists when they originally existed, meaning black people or brown people cannot own the property, but they could stay on the property or work on the property if, you know, other, you know, white people owned it. And he says they are currently working on that to get that language out. And why I bring that up is UVM has, or I've heard has some property with same kind of language on it. And I was wondering if that's going to be brought up and taken care of cuz, you know, it should be taken care of and noted that UVM does have property. It might be where the big house sits that limits, you know, black people owning that property. So, there's something to look into and contact people writing the paper that they may want to look into it to have a full account of things in this area. Thank you. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Mozhgan Savabieasfahani. >> Hello, Ann Arbor, and congratulations. This is the last day Mayor Mayor Taylor is going to be sitting at the seat of the mayor. This is a mayor who failed us on every front. On housing front, affordable housing, cleanup of Guilden Dioxin contamination, you name it, he failed us. Most importantly, he failed us in the face of a genocide. He went and spoke and said a prayer to the Zionist genocidal state of Israel while it was committing a genocide in Gaza. Mayor Taylor did that while they were burning children in Gaza, while they were raping children in Gaza, while they were torturing people in Gaza, he said a prayer to the state of Israel which was committing a genocide. And we will be happy to see him leave leave [snorts] these offices. Also, congratulations for kicking out Mr. uh What was his name? Um Yeah, and welcoming and welcoming El Sayed. Welcoming El Sayed and removing a Zionist who served the state of Israel with every fiber of his body for as long as he held that seat in the Senate of the United States. And this is a time to rejoice. Now, when Debbie Dingell said that, you know, these are really hard time for people who serve the public, I was going [snorts] to ask, uh if you serve the public, why would it be a hard time? Unless you didn't serve the public and you served the Zionist genocidal state of Israel, yeah, this would be a bad time for those because as we know, uh AIPAC and the Zionist lobby tried every trick in the book to derail the elections in the United States of America and they failed. They spent $70 million to to not allow uh Abdulrahman Mohammad El Sayed to get into the Senate and they lost. Here, they will lose, too. Tonight and every night, they will lose because for decades, Zionists and their influencers hid it from the public in America that we are subsidizing a genocidal, racist, rapist state which is Israel. We continue to pay and we continue to pay and you hid it from us. People did not know that you were actually serving Israel, but now everyone knows and the cat is out of the bag and no more funding for Israel. We have been demanding that to cut off military aid to Israel for 24 years and this mayor and city council after city council watched us and did nothing. Throughout two three years of genocide they DID NOTHING. BUT TIME'S UP. >> THANK YOU. >> ZIONISTS OUT. THANK YOU. >> [applause] >> THANK YOU. I HAVE MORE TIME LEFT. >> OUR NEXT speaker is Blaine Coleman. >> [laughter] >> My name is Blaine Coleman and I am here in the Ann Arbor City Council as I have been for over 20 years demanding a resolution for Palestinian human rights and against the genocide state the genocide state, Israel. I demand again that this city council approve a resolution against all aid trade military, diplomatic, and financial relations with Israel, the genocide state. That Nazi state which has shamelessly committed mass murder against the Palestinian people for so many years. You cannot deny the holocaust that Israel has committed against the Palestinian people in Gaza. You cannot deny that Israel has murdered way over 74,000 human beings in Gaza while you watched, while you, the Ann Arbor City Council did everything in your power to stonewall any resolution that would protect the Palestinian people against Israel, the genocide state. The Palestinian and Lebanese people never did you any harm. And yet, you did everything to help Israel keep massacring them. Shame on you. This mayor, Taylor, publicly read a prayer for the state of Israel, a genocidal state. There is no excuse for that. I will be glad to see this mayor go. The voters have thrown him out. He's going. This is his last meeting. Good. Do you think about the lifelong trauma that you have caused millions of Palestinians, >> [snorts] >> hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children? Have you thought about the massive, lifelong, multi-generational trauma you have caused to the Palestinian people by exerting your might to prevent even a resolution that would protect them against Israel, the genocide state? It's bad to deny Holocausts. Do not deny the Holocaust Israel has committed against the Palestinian people. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Are there communications today from council? Councilmember Iyer. >> Thank you, Mayor. I want to speak to a couple of communications on the agenda. Um both of them have to do with uh construction-related initiatives. Um And I want to back up and um and note that um these initiatives began um following a tragedy on one of our city construction sites on June 19th, 2025, a 48-year-old construction worker named David Reminder was killed on the city's Miller Avenue construction project when his his gravel truck tipped over crushing the cab. Following his death, MIOSHA identified deficiencies in the contractor's safety program. Of course, we cannot undo that tragedy, but we have an obligation to do everything in our power to [clears throat] prevent another worker from losing their life on a construction site in Ann Arbor. And that's why I, along with Mayor Taylor, initiated a review of our construction safety practices, and that work has resulted in significant changes. The first is outlined in the memo on tonight's agenda titled Revisions to Construction Contract Template Safety Provisions. Our existing requirements include OSHA 10-hour safety training, but under the revised contracts, on-site supervisors must now have OSHA 30 training, and contractors must follow their safety programs including standards that may exceed state minimums. These are enforceable contractual object obligations now, and this gives the city stronger authority to demand compliance and to pursue remedies for safety violations. Another initiative is outlined in the memo titled Skilled Trades Regulation Act, which is also on the agenda. This extends beyond city projects to private construction throughout the city. I grew up in a building trades family, and I've long understood the importance of proper training, supervision, and accountability on construction sites. Michigan law establishes minimum ratios of licensed journeymen to apprentices in the electrical and plumbing trades, and this ensures adequate supervision. The consequences of inadequate supervision can be devastating. In February 2023, an electrical apprentice was critically injured in an electrocution incident near Marshall while working without the required supervision. His employer was cited for safety violations. So, I've long been pushing for stronger local enforcement of these existing requirements, and this change to our building permits is a step in that direction. Contractors will now receive explicit notice of apprentice requirements when permits are issued along with a contact for reporting violations. We will now have a a better system for when complaints come in, and city inspectors can visit job sites, verify credentials, and require immediate correction. Repeated violations can actually result in stop work orders. These two initiatives strengthen protections on both city-funded and private construction projects. We're also working on some new revisions to our best value procurement policy, which I will speak to later in the meeting. But, I want to thank city administrator Dehoney, deputy city administrator Mariah Walton, and city uh staff, including our city attorneys, for their work on these. People who build our city deserve to come home safely at the end of every work day, and we owe them action, accountability, and the strongest protections we can possibly provide. >> Are there communications from council? Councilmember Dish. >> Thank you, Mayor Taylor. I just wanted to say what a really fun time I had [snorts] last week, and many of us at this table did, at the dedication of fire station number four, which is Michigan's first net-zero fire station. Uh not only is it net-zero, but it also recognizes that both men and women and people who don't identify as either one of those things are firefighters. Um we learned at this wonderful ceremony, um which was attended by Mindy Kur, whom the station is named after, that the nickname for fire station number four used to be the penalty box, because it was dark, really almost windowless and small, and had a terrible kitchen. I think they used as a counter a moving um dishwasher, which doesn't sound like a good counter to me. And it is now it looks like a solarium. It is all glass window walls and there is such a gorgeous space to cook in and beautiful quarters and I'd like to thank Tracy McCoy again who gave me a tour and who she and I took a long walk in Ann Arbor and I am just so appreciative for the work that our firefighters do and so proud of the city. This project uh really moved forward thanks to Mayor Taylor and our city administrator. So, thank you. >> Council member Briggs. >> Thanks. And I wanted to thank our clerk's office, uh Ms. Boudrie, and um all the election workers. We just had an incredible election and what a um And they um according to our uh administrator's report, uh there were more than 3,000 voters registered on election day. Um during the 12 days in of in-person early voting, more than 19,000 ballots were cast and more than 21,000 absentee ballots were received even before election day. So, this is quite a feat um and it goes smoothly um every election and it's really incredible work. And so, um deep gratitude for um the safe and and and smooth elections that we had here and also celebration for the the blue tsunami that we saw across the United States. >> Further communication from Council. Council member Harrison. >> Thank you, Mayor Taylor. Um I actually would like to talk talk about a hot topic around here lately. And um that is actually uh the subject of mayor pro tem pore. For those of you who may not know, the mayor pro tem pore serves in the mayor's absence and assumes the role uh the mayor's responsibilities when necessary. While historically a largely administrative position, the role has become more visible in representing city council and our community. As council prepares to select its next mayor pro tempore, I would like to publicly express my interest in serving and earning the support of my colleagues. I'm a lifelong Ann Arbor resident. I grew up here. I raised my children here. And I've spent much of my life advocating for people whose voices too often are overlooked or too often overlooked. Throughout my time on council, I've worked on I've worked to advance police accountability, housing stability, and policies supporting people impacted by our criminal legal system. I've also brought people, organizations, and communities together, sometimes across differences that might otherwise have kept them apart. Some of my colleagues on this dais have experienced that firsthand. I believe that experience, along with my willingness to listen, ask difficult questions, and challenge challenge the status quo has prepared me for this responsibility. I also believe there is value in change and creating opportunities for different voices and perspectives to lead. But there's something else I would like to address. In all of Ann Arbor's history, there has never been a black woman who has served as mayor pro tempore. That is personal to me. I know what it means to grow up in a community where people who look like me have been absent from certain positions of leadership. I think about the young black girls growing up in Ann Arbor today. Here we are approaching 2027. And for the first time in our city's history, they could see a black woman serving as mayor pro tempore. They could see someone who looks like them in a position of leadership and who knows those opportunities are within their reach. Within their reach, too. Not because someone told them it was possible, but because they would have actually seen it happen. And that, frankly, should matter Frankly, that should matter to all of us. Ann Arbor prides itself on diversity, equity, inclusion. Yet, here we are in 2026, still talking about the possibility of a black woman of a first black woman serving in this role. At some point, we have to look at ourselves, whether those to ask ourselves At some point, we have to ask ourselves whether those values are reflected in our decisions are simply in our words. Over the coming weeks, I look forward to speaking with my colleagues, hearing what matters most to them, and asking them for their support. Representation matters. Change matters, and I believe it's time for Ann Arbor to demonstrate that through its leadership. I hope my colleagues will join me in making history by electing Ann Arbor's first black woman mayor pro tem. Um, but mostly, I look forward to the conversations about this with my my peers. Thank you. >> Further communication from council. I do not have my records in front of me, but I also would like to echo the uh the gratitude and thanks that Council Member Briggs mentioned to to our city staff, our election workers, the folks who come in during the weekends to prepare, during the days to prepare. Uh the people who staff the the many precincts, coming early in the morning, staying late at night. This is the beautiful ever working work of government. It's done in Ann Arbor with efficiency and care. And, you know, I couldn't be more grateful for the work done by the clerk's office, Indomitable Clerk Boudry, and all who have the pleasure of of working under her direction. Ann Arbor should be proud. I would like to request confirmation of the following appointments that were presented to City Council on October 19, 2026. To the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority Board, Samuel Cowchech. To the Downtown Development Area Residential Resident Colton Consultancy Council, Richard Ferenze, Curtis Davis, Karen Park. To the City Planning Commission, Noah Cases and Malika Bellage. May I have a motion, please? Moved by Councilmember Briggs, seconded by Councilmember Madina. Discussion. All in favor. Opposed. It is approved. I'd like to request confirmation of the following appointment in a one-step process to the Transportation Commission, Sandra Cassandra Schmening. May I have a motion, please? Moved by Councilmember Briggs, seconded by Councilmember Dish. Discussion. All in favor. All opposed. It is approved with nine Councilmembers present, all voting in the affirmative, thus satisfying the eight-vote requirement. Speaking of of the of eight votes, and since I guess this is continuing continuing to be some species of communication, I just like to say that Councilmember Akman has a medical event today and expresses well, all the things you'd express as a departing Councilmember. Well, since she's not here, I'll say it. Her pride of service, her gratitude for the confidence of of the community. And I'll say it too, her pleasure in working with you all. So, Councilmember Akman. Thank you. We now have before us the consent agenda. May I have a motion, please, to approve the consent agenda? Moved by Councilmember Dish, seconded by Councilmember Malik. Discussion, please, of the consent agenda. Councilmember Dish. >> I would like to pull item CA2 from the agenda and postpone until December 7th, so that staff >> Let's postpone it Let's pull it and then postpone it. >> Sorry, yes, good. Pull. >> Further discussion of the consent agenda. Councilmember Harrison. >> I'd like to pull CA1. >> Further discussion of the consent agenda. All in favor of the consent agenda with the exception of CA1 and CA2. All opposed? The consent agenda is approved with the exception of CA1 and CA2 with nine council members present, all voting in the affirmative, thus satisfying the eight-vote requirement with respect to CA3, CA7, CA8, CA11, CA16, CA19, and CA20. CA2 resolution to approve Springhill Suites development agreement 2295 South State Street, moved by Council Member Dish, seconded by Council Member Radina. Discussion, please, of CA2. Council Member Dish. >> Thank you, Mayor Taylor. Um, I would like to postpone this I or pull this item from the agenda and postpone it until December 7th. Staff needs time to research the issues that were raised in public comment. >> So, it uh it it has been pulled from the consent agenda. You're requesting it that be postponed. >> Yes. >> Is there a second? Seconded by Council Member Radina. Discussion of the postponement. All in favor? All opposed? The postponement is approved. Thank you. CA1 resolution approving a contract with the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County for the 2026-2027 winter emergency shelter and warming center in the amount of $222,000. Moved by Council Member Harrison, seconded by Council Member Ergaziz Edwin. Discussion, please, of CA1. Council Member Harrison. >> In relation to this agenda item, I just wanted to um announce that there will be uh screening of The Road Home tomorrow at the um Ann Arbor District Library downtown um that has that film way you know, was shown before, but it will be uh you know, presented to the community tomorrow, and um I am proud and happy uh to announce that I'll be um on the uh panel along with uh Community Mental Health, and um Katie Hall Katie Homer from Community Washtenaw County Community Mental Health, and Jennifer Hall uh from the Ann Arbor Housing Commission, and my colleague Chris Council member Watson also sat on the panel before when one of the screenings of one of the first screenings at the Michigan Theater. So, I'm happy to represent City Council tomorrow. It is at 5:00 p.m. So, for those of you all that are interested, please come out. Thank you. >> Further discussion? All in favor? All opposed? It is approved. We now come to a set of public hearings. Public hearings are opportunities for members of the public to speak to Council and the community about the specific subject matter of the public hearing. To speak at a public hearing, you need not have signed up in advance, but your speech must relate to the specific subject matter of the public hearing. That is to say, the specific item on the agenda to which the public hearing relates. Speakers in all instances will have 3 minutes in which to speak. So, please pay close attention to the time. Our clerk or the time clock will notify you when 30 seconds are remaining and when your time has expired. When your time has expired, please conclude your remarks and cede the floor. Public hearing number one, an ordinance to amend the chapter 55 zoning rezoning of 0.17 acres from R4C multi-family dwelling to D1 downtown core midtown character and secondary street the Dean 2 rezoning 548 South 5th Avenue. Is there anyone in house who would like to speak at this public hearing? You just come on up. >> Never done this before, so this should be interesting. I just we just my husband and I have lived here since we went to school here, which is in the late 70s. I live down the street. We've lived there all that time. Um [snorts] in our own home, which we fixed up. Right now, my understanding is the the current status of all the high-rises that have gone up the unoccupied number is around 13 to 15%. But if my eyes are true to me, I think there are four more buildings going up. Um, one of which is the the one by the Y, which I hope it stands to be the one for the lower income housing people. But anyway, like I said, I'm no I'm no expert. Um, what [snorts] we need in Ann Arbor, however, are not more apartments. What we need are more residents. We have people who come here to work every day and then drive home every day. They're in the traffic all day. What we need is affordable housing here in Ann Arbor that where they will live in Ann Arbor, they will eat in Ann Arbor, they will buy things in Ann Arbor, and we won't have to have this huge corridor of traffic going in and out of our city. It will help our tax base. It will help many things. Um, let's see. I'm afraid that with all these new apartment buildings, we're going to have a plethora of unoccupied buildings and that the possibility of of empty buildings and therefore um, people who own them saying we don't want to do this anymore and leaving them on the hands of Ann Arbor to deal with. So, I think we need to be conscious of the fact that they they're not going to stay if they're not making money and if we're over uh um, over extending ourselves to students, which the university is already pulled back on their plan to do their second phase of their housing for students because they don't think there's going to be enough students here to require that housing to be done. I'm sorry if I'm rambling. I don't mean to be. Uh, currently we have nine empty storefronts in on in downtown Ann Arbor on Main Street. Out of three and a half four blocks, that's a lot of empty storefronts. There's a reason for that. It's too expensive for them to be here. And we need more people to be in this community to pay taxes in this community and to live in this community and order to help bring those costs into line. Uh parking really isn't an issue. Everybody keeps talking about it, but as far as I can tell every time I go to a parking structure, there's billions and billions of empty spaces. People just don't want to go to a parking structure. So, I don't know how to rectify that, but building more of those is not something that I think should be on our agendas. So, basically, I would suggest that we look towards increasing permanent housing for permanent residents. That will increase our tax base in Ann Arbor and decrease the tax and parking burden needs. And maybe make this a tighter community like it used to be. Thank you. >> Thank you. Is there anyone else in house who'd like to speak at this public hearing? >> Hi, Adam Juscovich again from the fourth ward. As I told you during the public hearing for the other parcels involved in this project, this location is close to student-oriented apartment homes and Main Street, close to new University of Michigan dorms, and close to both the Blake Transit Center and the University of Michigan's um upcoming Madison Transit Center. It's an entirely appropriate location for dense student-oriented housing. This is a great location for a project like this. We are in a housing crisis and allowing more homes for residents who happen to be students within the student village area is a no-brainer. Adding this parcel to the site for the Dean allows for a better project which will have a cleaner interface to the street and more efficient use of space. More residents downtown will support our downtown businesses and having um private apartments that are on our tax rolls rather than um more university housing will support our tax base. So, please approve B1 and DS2 tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good evening. My name is Claudius Vincent. I live at 545 South Fifth Avenue. I've spoken out here repeatedly against this GMH communities initiated spot zoning request. I would like to tonight to voice my opposition to the extension of this zoning proposal as well. My arguments remain the same and 3 minutes are insufficient to reiterate them all. However, as the architect Brett Moore puts it, this is déjà vu all over again and thus provides me with the opportunity to comment on how the voting on version one of this project went down. Only two or three of you found it necessary to justify your votes with a statement. A statement that would explain why you you support the destruction of a whole neighborhood for the benefit of one developer, GMH communities and that architect Brett Moore. The vote tonight will give [clears throat] you another opportunity to put on the record your arguments. The public, the Ann Arbor public, has the right to know what drives your decisions. And please don't give me the thing about Ann Arbor is changing and there's a lot room of different types of changes between the two-story buildings that are there now and the proposed 15 story skyscraper. Lots of opportunities. Please explain why GMH communities is allowed to plant in the middle of a R4C district a student luxury housing behemoth without a single affordable apartment >> [snorts] >> and a single cent contribution to the affordable housing fund. Please. Please explain why Brett Moore can build a building that incorporates less than minimum of sustainable features. For example, few decorative solar panels on the roof instead of making use of the massive south-facing facade. Silver LED rating is basically means that the building has a roof that doesn't leak. Gold and platinum LED rating should be what what they should offer. And GMH Communities is even proud to point out that they have built such buildings in other cities. Why are you spot zoning this parcel from R4C2 to D1 when the clock that you just approved has not no D1 zoning? Are you intentionally creating a legal gray space that will give [snorts] a pass to GMH Communities to build anything they want as they can claim it's by right? The actual project they don't even bother to present it tonight may be a mirage. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Good evening, Mr. Mayor, and good evening, members of City Council. My name is Beverly Strawsman, and I live at 545 South 5th Avenue. We are directly across from 548 South 5th Avenue. That is the parcel in question. I am here tonight to urge you to please vote no on the rezoning of this parcel. The density goals of City Council are already being fully met by the 15-story tower that you've approved on the other nine parcels. Pushing the footprint onto a 10th parcel will not solve Ann Arbor's housing crisis. It merely secures a marginally cleaner property line and architectural convenience for a private developer. The city's comprehensive plan explicitly promises that neighborhood edges will be evaluated to ensure a contextual fit. By absorbing 548 South 5th into a D1 downtown core designation tonight, you are doing the exact opposite. You are intentionally removing a multi-family R4C parcel that should be serving as a vital step-down buffer. And in so doing, if you approve this, you will be creating a harsh unbuffered edge effect on our block. Pushing the D1 boundary further north shifts a massive high-rise footprint right into an active residential stretch of 5th Avenue. We neighbors are unanimous and we submitted a petition which will oblige you to have a supermajority should you wish to approve this. Beyond the visual impact, our immediate infrastructure in Ann Arbor cannot accommodate expanding this footprint. Unlike a true downtown core grid, the streets surrounding this parcel are are structurally constrained. Traffic flow here does not go through. These streets are physically cut off and stopped by the university's athletic campus and Elbel Field. By increasing the footprint of this massive high-rise on our block, you are funneling intense vehicular traffic and ride-share drop-offs, to say nothing of Amazon deliveries that park in the middle of the street, into a dead-end bottleneck. This will inevitably snarl traffic, create safety hazards for pedestrians heading to the football games and navigating the athletic campus, and it will gridlock a residential neighborhood that physically lacks the street capacity to handle it. Um okay, this please don't make this your Trumpian arch on your last day, Mr. Mayor. And please at least table this for the next city council. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] >> [snorts] >> Uh, Chair Mihaly, just want to bring up, I don't know if you heard or not, the Ann Arbor Public Schools might be club possibly closing down two schools. Cuz there's not enough families, there's not enough kids having, you know, people having families. But yet the the University of Michigan's population between 18 25 year olds keep exploding. Why I say that is you're building out for 18 25 year olds and squeezing out possibly squeezing out the families. Cuz families don't want to live in apartments with kids. That's just reality. And you can go to the Ann Arbor Public Schools and talk to them. I mean, Ann Arbor Public Schools should be part of the Ann Arbor Ann Arbor City planning kind of they kind of should work together cuz they are sign of what's going on in Ann Arbor. If you're losing families and closing schools, but guess what? A developer may be coming to buy and buy those properties, build some ball tall buildings and increase population for U of M again. And that's a bonus, right? So, as your actions to keep building out rezoning things for your U of M population, you have to think about the population of families that you are squeezing out that you don't want to have in the city that you keep saying that you want, but the actions speak louder than words. All people are seeing these big tall buildings going up, where are the families going to go? Families don't want to live in big tall buildings. Maybe in bigger cities, LA, New York, stuff like that. In Ann Arbor, they don't want to live in big tall buildings. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> [applause] [snorts] >> Is there anyone else in house who would to speak at this public hearing? Is there anyone online who would like to speak at this public hearing? >> Mayor, we have a couple callers online. Alex Low, do you have a comment? Go ahead. >> Evening again. Um I'm sorry I'm sorry that my last comment public public hearing comment I guess to to the mayor is going to be me being very angry, but I'm very angry. Um I I heard some ridiculous statements to to that so far. I I things like the these no families don't want to live in apartments. The last apartment that I lived in was in Nashville. And and above me there was a family of four. Below me there was a family of three. Across the the hall from me was a family of five and immediately next to me was a family of six. I would say that that shows that families want to live in apartments. In fact, the last apartment I I lived in in Ann Arbor, I would had a family on either side of me. So I think that that's that's complete bollocks. I also take exception to to people saying that that these buildings are historic. They're not historic, they're old. In fact, one of these particular buildings I almost rented an apartment an apartment in when I first moved to to Ann Arbor. Um I ended up not because the bathroom was across a public hallway from from from the apartment. The um the kitchen sink was right next to to the bed rather than you know in the kitchen. It's etc. It was really a huge mess of reconfigured housing and I'm pretty sure if my memory serves me correctly, it had it had single pane windows. So, as far as I'm concerned, good riddance to the to the whole block. Let's build Ann Arbor's first skyscraper there. Thank you. Thank you. >> Luis Vasquez, do you have a comment? Go ahead. >> Uh yes, thank you. Greetings Mr. Mayor and City Council. Uh I would like to speak in support of this rezoning. [clears throat] Um uh as has been mentioned before, there is a a housing crisis in Ann Arbor and this development can help to alleviate some of that. Um by housing students, uh great. That means they won't be competing with um others for the single family homes in in some of the neighborhoods that surround downtown Ann Arbor. I believe this also highlights the need for zoning reform in Ann Arbor and [snorts] I'm sorry to see that the comprehensive land use plan process and the zoning reform that is about to happen has been delayed for so long and that this this needs to, you know, continue. I mean, we we really need to build more housing, more dense housing, higher high-rises. And so, yes, I'm in favor of this rezoning. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Caller with the phone number ending in 534. Go ahead. >> Good evening. This is Tom Stalberg calling from Lower Town in Ann Arbor. You have the ability, and you've had the ability with this project, you could have gotten a 36 units of affordable housing. Do we have an affordability crisis in Ann Arbor? Yes, we absolutely do. This approval, it was within your power to approve it, the exact same building, with 36 units of affordable housing. That's 240 units * 15% or the equivalent in cash could have been paid by the developer to the affordable housing fund. Let's call that about 3 and 1/2 million dollars. That's about 1/2 of a year's worth of millage. So, two of these projects is a year's worth of millage. That money, that 3 and 1/2 million dollars, is going to sit in the developer's pocket. Because you're going to approve unanimously what you already started with the the first D1 approval. Uh This is not D1. This area was D2 appropriate on Main Street to the west, uh the southern half of the standard to the north, and even the University of Michigan housing is D2 heights, not D1 heights. So, it was not appropriate to go D1 for the Dean. You do have a tool on your books. It's legal. It's appropriate. You could go PUD instead if you wanted this project and that would net 15% affordable housing or 36 units or as I say 3 and 1/2 million dollars. So, when everybody says, "Oh, there's a crisis." Yeah, we do have a crisis and we're not responding to it with the tools that we have. And our books are more off which would have given us 3 and 1/2 million dollars or 36 units of affordable housing. This has been a pattern with this administration. I hope the next administration will stop doing this. We are giving money to developers and we're leaving it in their pockets. And these projects do pencil out. The Verve, The Rambler, Five Corners. They all went PUD, they all paid 7 million dollars in the affordable housing fund. This one doesn't. Do we have a crisis? This one should be giving us the affordable housing that we are entitled to by the law using a tool that you are choosing not to use. I want to leave you with that math. And if anybody says, "Oh, all these new projects pay into the affordable housing fund through the millage." Do the math before you make that claim. Those are pennies on the dollar. So, I know you're going to approve this. I'm sorry you're not approving it with affordable housing included. Good night. >> THANK YOU. >> [applause] >> CALLER WITH THE PHONE NUMBER ENDING IN 194, press star six to unmute your phone. Go ahead. >> Hi, Mayor and Council. This is Rita Mitchell calling from Ward 5. I am calling to um advise you to vote no on this proposal um in the public hearing tonight. Please vote no on the expansion of the Dean. Um and I'm really disturbed at the spot zoning approach being taken for this particular project given that you have already authorized a significant amount of money as in it's over $500,000 for a consultant to develop the comprehensive plan rezoning. You all should be following those rules so that we can have the kind of thing that you all promised during the course of the comprehensive plan development that you would allow the community to have a part of the development and to understand the zoning, excuse me, as it moves forward. It hasn't happened with this particular project and I'm really disturbed to see the removal of existing affordable housing in that area. Um and if it's I'm done with saying, please go go on this. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Mayor, I don't have any other callers for this hearing. >> Please. >> Mr. Mayor, Council, my name is Richard Jacobson. I live at 538 South 5th Avenue, two houses up from this proposed building. The D1 allows possibly what, 19 stories covering the entire block, end of the block, that would do south of the rest of that block between 4th and 5th Avenue. That it's it's just completely inappropriate for the neighborhood and I oppose it. And the university, when they built all those dorms down there in the last year, they only put them up six stories and there's no plan for this building before you as far as I can tell. And if you give it a D1 and approve that um the chances of ruining the rest of the neighborhood and our property values would be very high. So, I I just I am opposing this. Thank [snorts] you. >> Thank you. Is there a Nelson House or online who would like to speak at this public hearing? Seeing no one, this public hearing is closed. Public hearing number two and ordinance to amend section 961 and 962 of chapter 108 disorderly conduct of title nine of the code of the city of Ann Arbor. Is there anyone in house who would like to speak at this public hearing? >> I'm the Dov Kane. I'm the Rabbi Beth Israel congregation. I'm an Ann Arbor resident. Speaking to this, I also want to thank the city council for years of attention to this matter and balancing our deep values of the free exercise of speech and and a concern for human dignity within that and also um sparing the harassment of our worshipers trying to exercise their rights of worship. Reflecting on this ordinance in particular, I just want to think a little bit about whether an ordinance written like this for New York City in which 50 ft from an entrance makes sense in a dense urban environment might be thought of differently for a town like Ann Ann Ar- in like Ann Arbor. Uh many of the people who enter our synagogue do so from the sidewalk and I'm not sure what constitutes the entrance. Is it the driveway all the way on the left because traditionally we walk to synagogue. So, we walk right to the edge of the property and cross over the grass. In which case, like to As this is looked at, what counts as an entrance for me it be the edge of the property, not necessarily a driveway on the left. And if it does count as a driveway, I think in a town like Ann Arbor and given the layout, we're thinking something more like 50 yards than 50 feet would constitute a reasonable area that that is appropriate for our place. Also, I noticed the word intimidation and I think that's an appropriate word for what is happening. I was also wondering if the ordinance might look at or enforcement look at the fact that two individuals, one of whom does scream obscenities at women passersby, whether two people have the right to put up 50 or 100 signs of hate speech like anti-Semitism, always or never given, or signs of Holocaust denial, whether intimidation might be thought of as the number of signs and whether a limitation on that in some way might be a way to address the issue of intimidation. Want to thank Council for its attention to this matter. I know votes and motions like this are hard cuz they balance all of our deepest values. Thank you. >> Hi, I'm Judy Kohn. I am a member of Beth Israel for many, many years. Um I find that the treatment, the way these signs and [snorts] the people are there is very intimidating to me when I come to services. I ask friends of mine who go to other churches and mosques and other places of worship whether they have to be harassed and and intimidated when they go to their services. They don't even know what I'm talking about. I remember that once many years ago I stopped at the stop sign on Washington on Devonshire uh that had just changed and I asked one of the picketers, uh why are you doing this?" And that picketer started yelling and screaming and running up and down the block and yelling, "I know anti-Semitism is this scourge." And he as the light changed, he was still running up and down yelling and screaming. I went to services a couple of months ago. There was a police car there talking to a woman and one of the picketers. I understand that was the only time I saw it, but I understand the police are frequently called and that there has been occasionally physical contact. I find this very intimidating. I find the lines the lies. You can see that where they sat, where they chose to sit tonight so that their signs would be seen on TV. Um they say Jewish power. That's an anti-Semitic trope that's used frequently. If we had that much power, believe me, they wouldn't be there. Um we just don't have that the kind of power they accuse us of. Um so it's very intimidating and I think if I were a new family with young children coming into this community, I would think twice about taking my children through something like that. There are children in our congregation who have grown up 20 more than 20 years with this kind of having to go through to their house of worship just to pray and having to go through this hatred and learn from a young age that people hate them just because of who they are. And so I think that having at least a buffer um I don't know how much would be sufficient, but having some kind of buffer would be good. And to end, I want to thank you, Mayor Taylor and City Council for all of your service. And I know that Mayor Taylor has many skills among them singing and dancing because I was in the Burns Park Players with him. >> Thank you. >> Good evening, Mayor and Council. I'm Joan Lowenstein. I'm president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor. I know that you know from all the months and for some of you years that you've been sitting here that it is very hard to prevent some people from inflicting their insanity on all the rest of us. But this ordinance at least gives us a tool. It's not the end of the story because it will require cooperation between the police and the security professionals that our Jewish community has to continually raise money to fund. But I want to thank you for listening. And I want to especially thank Mayor Taylor. You've always been a leader. And you've always been a a leader who has performed your job with a sense of humanity and charity. And so I want to say as we say in the synagogue when someone has had an honor in the synagogue, we say yasher koach which means may your strength be enriched. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good evening. The ordinance in question pertains to physical behavior, specifically disorderly conduct. The proposed changes, however, are a clear assault on our constitutionally protected right to free speech. Can Ann Arbor City Council rewrite our Constitution? That's what this ordinance change is all about. But we'll leave [snorts] the answer to that question to legal scholars or the courts. Let's examine the proposed text and witness where the hand leaves the arm. Where the ordinance goes from common sense to a violation of the Constitution. It says, "No person shall by force, knowingly or intentionally obstruct or otherwise interfere with the entry way into or exit from a place of worship." We have no problem with that. In over 23 years of peaceful protest on the public sidewalk around Beth Israel, we have never repeat, never been cited for such behavior. We have never sought to physically dissuade congregants from entering the building. If Beth Israel Jews want to pray for the IDF soldiers committing a genocide on our watch, we say let them. >> [snorts] >> I have the prayer right here. But the proposed text continues with first a 50-ft, then a beyond 50-ft area around Beth Israel where free speech will be suspended. Why not just toss the whole First Amendment into the memory hole and be done with it? On the bright side, these proposed changes make clear that it is our messaging and not [snorts] our presence or behavior that upset the congregants of Beth Israel. Years ago, friends would speculate that if our front our our signs, excuse me, read, "We love Israel." as opposed to "End Israel." the rabbi would come outside and bring us hot chocolate in the winter. Now they no longer have to speculate. We have evidence [snorts] that this is true. There are weekly counter-protesters with exactly those messages. We love the Jewish people and Judaism is love. These counter-protesters are welcomed by congregants and security alike. They are welcome. We are not. Yet, our behavior is identical. The First Amendment is content-neutral. Your job is to protect it, not to destroy it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Is there anyone else in house would like to speak at this public hearing? >> My name is Good evening, council and mayor. My name is Odile Nouhou Eber. I'm not sure why this ordinance is drawn right now. I don't think there is a lot of disorderly conduct there at this place. But, I have not been watching, so I don't know exactly what is happening. And that is not really presented to us. What is What I know is that this synagogue next to the Bima, which is the altar of the synagogue, has the flag of Israel. And that kind of is amazing to me because there is a journalist that came to speak to us about Israel. And he said that form of being against God and all his law when you have next to the altar a state. And so, we have to decide what we follow, the law of the Torah, which speak of justice and peace, or the genocide going on, which is absolutely atrocious. People have been murdered, children have been killed, disabled. They even make their own leg now with pipes because there is no more hospital to help them. I mean, when I watch what's going on in Gaza, I am totally heartbroken. >> [snorts] >> And I'm surprised that even people don't feel ashamed about it and don't mind that there is people who protest what's going on. So, I don't know. I think it's another view. We need to have a further, bigger debate about it. But, really go against the Constitution and prevent people from speaking out doesn't seem the right way to go about it. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Continuing in the same concern. First of all, there is a separation of church and state. >> [snorts] >> And the state has no business getting involved in the questions of the church. And this church is supporting a regime with its flag. It is criticized in international law and in the general intelligence of the community. And if people protest that, seems completely appropriate. Why would you want to interfere at all? Now, this been going on for 20 some years, this uh protest and these atrocities that the protest uh generates. And how is it in all that time that neither have you addressed the questions that have generated this uh distress? >> [gasps] >> Nor have you sought to see not to impose law, but to seek mediation. Mediation seems very difficult because in my experience the synagogue doesn't want to talk about any of these questions. This is not a really a big uh problem. Here what the vigil is uh is asking for has for years. It is real in the synagogue. The synagogue should work for should commit itself to equal rights for Palestinians who live in Israel. Pretty difficult, I know, but and to end the occupation, the illegal occupation of territories never allowed a God allocated to Israel. >> [sighs and panting] >> There's supposed to have been some agreement way back on the 20 in 1947. And further, that the people illegally removed from Israel should have the right to return. That's international law, that resolution 194 of the United Nations. The synagogue doesn't want to talk about that. People in the street say this is basic human rights, human decency. We have a right to say this is what should be going on in the synagogue. And so let it let that vibration get to you. And I met somebody who's across the street who says, "I'm intimidated when I see those people." What's to be intimidated? For 23 years or 22, they've undertaken a demonstration with the greatest non-violent propriety with a camera all the time. Nothing has happened that has been illegal or intimidating. The problem of intimidation is what Israel is doing and you should not interfere. Thank you. >> [applause] >> My name is Gerald Sorock and I'm the executive director of Beth Israel Congregation. Thank you to the city council and to the mayor for bringing this ordinance up for consideration. Nobody at Beth Israel is questioning the First Amendment. Nobody is questioning the right of the protesters to express their views. They want to be offensive to us. They're welcome to be offensive. What we want made clear is that our community, our members, our guests do not feel comfortable entering the synagogue. We have to send warnings to invited guests for bar and bat mitzvahs, people from out of town to say, "You will encounter these protesters. They will have signs that are offensive like the one over my shoulder right now saying Jewish power versus the First Amendment, who will win?" We understand that they have every right to offend, but we think that giving us, giving our members and our community the opportunity to enter the synagogue without fear of harassment is the most important thing. And we thank you for consideration of this ordinance. >> Thank you. Is there anyone else in house who would like to speak at this public hearing? Is there anyone online who would like to speak at this public hearing? >> Mayor, we have a couple callers online. Louise Vasquez, do you have a comment? >> Uh yes, I do. Uh there [clears throat] is a world of difference between protest and harassment. One of at least one of the so-called protesters who have been out there for what they Did they say 23 years now? Carried a sign for a long time that had a Nazi swastika on it. That is disgusting. That is not protest. That is blatant harassment, and that needs to stop. I think maybe the temple needs to consider erecting a fenced-in free speech area where these miscreants can congregate themselves. Leave the people Leave the Jewish people alone. Let them practice their faith in peace. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Caller with the phone number ending in 031, press *6 to unmute your phone. Go ahead. >> Hello? Hello? >> Hello, you are audible. >> Hello? Thank you. I'm Chris. America's roughly 350,000 houses of worship representing 372 religious bodies, but there's four times more active shooter incidents at schools than houses of worship and twice as many deaths. Why not a buffer around schools? Why houses of worship, especially synagogues? Because of Henry Herskowitz and the Jewish lobby. That New York law, a joke, was a result of bad Jewish behavior. Robert Kraft was caught in a human trafficking sex ring at the Super Bowl and he got his buddy, Alan Dershowitz, who's Epstein's lawyer, to write Project HESTER to violently put down and destroy pro-Palestinian student groups and protests on all college campuses in America. And the elite university donor class launched that 1 year to the day into the genocide of Palestine. Because it's anti-Semitic and we need to protect Jewish students. Well, we heard that about Canary Mission >> Sir, on the ordinance. >> a decade earlier. A decade earlier. This is I'm getting to it. The synagogue protest, they were real estate seminars. That makes the synagogue not a house of worship, it's a marketplace. It was an international war crime. They were trying to sell occupied Palestinian land. Your feelings don't trump our rights. We are at the pinnacle of constitutional protections. The Supreme Court has already ruled on all of this. There's no buffer zone that you can get to push us away. You can't have a heckler's veto where somebody comes and attacks us, we react, and then you call the police and say you don't feel safe and you want the buffer to get us out of the way. You're uncomfortable with our signs. The court said, "Look away." We've had two lawsuits go to the Supreme Court and we won both of them. You have armed security folks. You've got concealed carry congregants. You have human shields constantly and and a SWAT team at the ready. This is the ordinance. We have the right to be there and we're there every Saturday and I'll see you Saturday. Cheers, Henry. Bye. Thank you. >> Alex Low, do you have a comment? >> Hi again. Um So, this has never really come up uh in in City Council but before so I've I've never shared this but feels like it's relevant now so I should probably share that I am an atheist and I think religious worship is silly. You know what's not silly though? Harassing people for uh for the silly things they do do week in and week out and week in and week out for decades. And so I think that this perfectly reasonable time, place, and manner restriction is absolutely appropriate. It's one thing to protest Israel. I'm all for protesting Israel. It's something completely different to to protest people's religious worship and to harass people who happen to be biking past when you do so. So, yeah. These people are are protesters. They're harassers. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> [snorts] >> Mary, don't have any other callers on the line. >> Seeing no one, this public hearing is closed. Public hearing number three, an ordinance to add chapter 83, virtual currency kiosks to title eight, pardon me, title seven of the code of the city of Ann Arbor. Is there anyone in house who'd like to speak at this public hearing? >> Free Palestine. FREE PALESTINE, MICHIGAN. >> GOOD EVENING, MAYOR Taylor and members of the council. My name is Cassie Therfelder and I'm the manager of advocacy with AARP Michigan and I'm here today to share AARP's support for this virtual currency kiosk ordinance. AARP [snorts] is the nation's largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that advocates on behalf of those age 50 and older. We have 1.3 million members in Michigan and our mission is simple. To empower people to choose how they live as they age. And included in that mission is preserving the financial security of older adults by preventing fraud and scams. For more than a decade, AARP has operated the Fraud Watch Network, a free resource for people of all ages. And through this work, we have seen that criminals have turned to virtual currency kiosks as a fast, anonymous, and devastatingly effective way to steal money from unsuspecting residents. Unfortunately, virtual currency kiosk fraud is skyrocketing. According to the FBI, it increased by 58% in just 2025 alone. In fact, the attorneys general in both Iowa and Washington, D.C. found that more than 93% of all transactions done on virtual currency kiosks in their communities were the result of fraud. And while this issue impacts people of all ages, 76% of losses throughout the country were experienced by adults age 60 and older who are the least able to recover financially. And that is why we at AARP are so grateful to the council for introducing this ordinance, which will go a long way in protecting Ann Arbor residents from scammers. We appreciate the inclusion of warning signs to notify people that they may be being scammed and the requirement of providing a physical receipt, which can help law enforcement with tracing stolen funds. However, as we have seen across the country, warning signs and blockchain analytics are not enough to protect from these scams. It is the transaction limits that we know will really serve to protect members of our community. By establishing a daily transaction limit of a thousand dollars, you are able to guarantee that a victim will not lose their entire life savings in one single act of fraud. We advocate on this issue across the country and know that you may have heard arguments related to the suspicious activity report and how it may be affected by this transaction limit. It's important to note that SARs are mandated to be reported at $2,000, but the industry is legally allowed to report it at any amount including below $2,000. In addition, [snorts] the reports themselves do not protect from fraud, but provide information about the potential for scams. Establishing this daily transaction limit will not impact the industry's ability to issue SARs reports, but it will provide strong protections for Ann Arbor residents. I am happy to answer any questions you might have about this issue and look forward to continuing to work with you to support older adults in Ann Arbor. Thank you. >> Thank you. Is there anyone else in house who'd like to speak at this public hearing? Is there anyone online who'd like to speak at this public hearing? >> Mary, I don't have any callers online for this hearing. Oh, I do have one. I'm sorry. Alex Low, do you have a comment? >> Me again. Cryptocurrencies and anarcho-capitalist dream / scam machine. That's my piece. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Mary, I don't have any other callers with their hands up. >> Seeing no one, this public hearing is closed. Public hearing number four, an ordinance to add chapter 99, commercial vehicle markings, to title seven of the code of the city of Ann Arbor. Is there anyone in house who would like to speak at this public hearing? Is there anyone online who would like to speak at this public hearing? >> Mary, do you have any callers online for this hearing? >> Seeing no one, this public hearing is closed. It's 9:05. We've been at it for 2 hours. Let's take a short break. We'll be back at 9:15. >> Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Hello everyone. We are we are back after a a short break. >> We have before us the council minutes, the regular meeting minutes of October 19, 2026. May I have a motion, please, to approve these minutes? Moved by council member Watson, seconded by council member Dish. Discussion of the minutes. All in favor. All opposed. The minutes are approved. B1, an ordinance to amend the chapter 55, zoning, rezoning a 0.17 acres from R4C, multi-family dwelling, to D1, downtown core, midtown character, and secondary street, the Dean 2, rezoning 548 South 5th Avenue. Moved by council member Dish, seconded by council member Adina. Discussion, please, of B1. >> Mayor Taylor, may I say something? >> Please. >> Um at the start of the meeting I was handed a petition, a hard copy petition, and staff has tried to work super fast to confirm. Yeah, and initial review does indicate that it meets the threshold for now requiring eight votes, although that's not fully confirmed cuz staff wasn't able to do a full technical review, but an initial review indicates that it now requires eight votes. >> Understood and thank you. Further discussion of the main motion. Council member Dish. >> Thank you for that information. Okay, so as we have heard, this rezoning would add an additional, that is a 10th parcel to the Dean, which is a project for a 15-story residential building that will provide approximately 240 apartments. So just to be clear, the City Council has already rezoned nine parcels for this project to D1 Midtown Character Overlay and conditions. And there is a site plan for those parcels currently in the process of review, and as I said, it proposes a 15-story building, not an 18-story building. It is understandable that there is neighborhood opposition to this project. It is challenging to live in near-campus neighborhoods and even more so as campus expands. The strategy of the comprehensive land use plan is to focus denser housing in close proximity to campus where it is convenient for students to live. So um this nine-parcel project is happening. Does a 10th Does the addition of a 10th strengthen the project? Uh city Sorry, City Planning Commission believes that it does, and I'll give you just a few pieces of um information as to why that's so. So the question for us is, first of all, does the project align with the vision of the recently approved comprehensive land use plan? And it does. The plan calls for this to be an active mixed-use area. Does it support city goals? Yes, it supports provision of more residential housing opportunities, it advances sustainability goals, and it supports living arrangements that enable less or no reliance on personal vehicles. You can see from the staff report all of the details of how it fits the six points necessary to justify a re-zoning. I do not need to and will not go over them here. Um that is in the record. Um the uh so uh the addition of this parcel will uh improve the project. It is located in the northeast corner of the of the totality of the project, which enables the developers to square off the site, eliminate a curb cut. We always prefer to eliminate curb cuts where possible to reduce uh pedestrian conflicts with cars and, you know, gosh, unfortunately, sometimes bicycles. Got to be careful bicyclists. Uh and it reduces and there will be so it'll be reduced to just one access point on 4th Street. The added parcel also enables the building to feature full story and a half windows wrapping around that corner, which provides for a more active street front on Madison, which makes it much more fun to walk. Buffering has been mentioned. This is a re-zoning with conditions, the condition being a 10-ft setback adjoining the R4C zoning. That condition is necessary because the uh the the provisions of the midtown character were not crafted for instances where the overlay would abut non-downtown zoning, and so there's no standard for side or rear setbacks. This condition provides a 10-ft setback, which staff judges to be reasonable um in where other uh where other overlay districts abut non-downtown zoning, the setbacks range from 5 to 40 ft. I don't think we would want 40 here, and it's a good idea to have more than five. But so for this instant uh so in that way this Yep, good. I think I got through it. I was just going to try to close. So. >> Further discussion. Council member Dush. >> Uh that would be Briggs. >> Pardon me? >> I'm you know >> Briggs. Thank you. >> It's a delightful thing that you do. I'm always happy to be here. >> [laughter] >> I'm I'm new here. >> So um I think Council member Dush uh said a lot and said it well. Um I I concur. We've We've talked about this um rezoning before with with the other nine parcels. Um the addition of the the 10th I think is um simply just makes for a more more cohesive project. Um and as as was noted this is consistent with our our planning goals. Um it's articulated well in um in what Council member Dush just said and in and in the planning staff report. Um the plan does recommend for up-zoning from exclusively multi-family residential use at the mid-range density to the hub future land use category. Um we heard in public comment um just to address the the call that we should be using this as PUD instead. Um while there are nice benefits of community benefits when we have PUD that doesn't mean that we get to use PUD every time we want to do a rezoning. Um if there is a logical uh category as there is in this case um in particular one with conditions offered um that is the appropriate and legal route to go. Uh so um we cannot use PUD as an extractive way to get additional funding for our affordable housing. Um but this uh I'm I'm happy to support this and think it is very consistent with our with our planning and our past actions around this site. >> Further discussion. Um I'm uh going to be supporting the rezoning tonight for uh many of the reasons that Council member Briggs and Council member Dush have articulated. I believe that uh this rezoning and the project with which it's associated um do advance the goals articulated in the comprehensive land use plan. This is an area that can bear material density and material density will come from this project. It It was asked what Why would we do this for the benefit of the developer, for the benefit of the architect? And, you know, certainly for myself, and I think it's also plainly true for everyone at this table, the benefit of the architect, the benefit of the developer is entirely immaterial. Could not be less relevant to our decision-making process. The reason why we look to expand housing in the city of Ann Arbor has nothing to do with the fact that somebody is going to make a buck building it. The reason why we look to expand housing in the city of Ann Arbor is because we have a housing crisis. And we have people who work in the city who can't live here. We have people who want to live here who can't live here. And that means that housing prices, for those of us who are here and for those of us who will, of necessity, come here are too high. And they're too high, simply put, because of supply and demand. And And so, that's the reason we build we we authorize the building of housing not because someone's going to build it, but because someone will live there. And that's the simple truth. Further discussion. All in favor? All opposed? It is approved with nine council members present, all voting in the affirmative, thus satisfying any eight-vote requirement. B2, an ordinance to amend section 961 and 962 of chapter 108, disorderly conduct, of title nine of the code of the city of Ann Arbor. Moved by council member Ayres, seconded by council member Malik. Discussion, please, of B2. I am a pleased that we're bringing forward uh this this ordinance tonight. As we know as members of the public have articulated the congregants at Beth Israel have endured picketing for more than two decades. They've been this picketing is is abhorrent. It is it constantly contains the expression the embodiment of anti-Semitic tropes. It renders worship at Beth Israel difficult and challenging in a way that is inconsistent uh with all that is right. Uh It is also uh people's first amendment right to occupy to to picket on the sidewalk and to express themselves. Uh This ordinance does not interfere with that right. This ordinance is entirely consistent with that right. What this ordinance does is it articulates a standard of disorderly conduct by which no person through force, threat of force, physical obstruction shall knowingly or intentionally obstruct or interfere with an entryway or exit to or from a place of religious worship. Within 50 ft it prohibits courses of conduct that place individuals in reasonable fear for their safety. It enables us to provide to to provide some protection to people who are just trying to get to synagogue. In a society with competing views, in a society with discord there will be conflict. Um Discourse is okay. Conflict and and intimidation uh putting people in fear of safety by your course of conduct that is not. Uh This ordinance is very specifically targeted uh at conduct. It does not address speech. Further discussion, Councilmember Dean. >> Uh thank you, Mayor Taylor. Uh thank you again for your leadership in bringing this ordinance forward. Um at first reading, I shared why I feel these additional protections are necessary and I discussed the recent attacks at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, along with threats against synagogues, temples, mosques, and other religious communities um and that that have made painfully clear that threats to people of of faith are not hypothetical, but they are happening right here in Michigan. Um but we don't have to look beyond Ann Arbor to understand the need for action. Uh it is telling to me that while we have also heard from our Muslim neighbors about the need for increased protections here in Ann Arbor, and that this ordinance, which will protect worshipers of all faiths at their places of worship, that opponents of this ordinance came here today singling out and criticizing one specific synagogue. For more than two decades, members of Beth Israel Congregation have endured persistent and aggressive anti-Semitic picketing outside their synagogue. Week after week, year after year, our neighbors have been forced to confront hate simply while trying to gather with their families and their community to practice their faith. That is unacceptable. And while this council has previously spoken out against this harassment, including through our 2020 resolution condemning anti-Semitism, we must continue to do everything within our legal authority to protect our residents and their right to worship safely, no matter which faith they practice. This ordinance is not about silencing disagreement or restricting peaceful protest. Those are fundamental constitutional rights that we must and will continue to protect. Rather, this is about ensuring that people cannot use threats, physical obstruction, or unlawful intimidation and harassment to interfere with someone else's fundamentally fundamental right to religious freedom. Like the protections recently enacted in New York, this amendment is narrowly focused on conduct, not speech. It recognizes that freedom of speech and freedom of religion are not mutually exclusive and that we have a responsibility to safeguard both. No one, regardless of their faith, should have to choose between practicing their religion and feeling safe in their own community. And no Ann Arbor resident should have to to accept threats or intimidation as the price of walking through the doors of their place of worship. Uh I'm proud to be a co-sponsor of this ordinance, and I am proud that Ann Arbor is taking this important step to stand with our neighbors and reaffirm our commitment to religious freedom, public safety, and constitutional rights. Thank you. >> Further discussion. All in favor? All opposed? It is approved. B3, an ordinance to add chapter 83, virtual currency kiosks, to title seven of the code of the city of Ann Arbor. Moved by Councilmember Iyer, seconded by Councilmember uh Watson. Discussion, please, of B3. Councilmember Iyer. >> Thank you. Um I spoke uh at more length about this at first reading, and um second reading, I just want to respond to some communication that we received um from CoinFlip um arguing that our proposed tran transaction limits could actually undermine fraud fraud protection prevention, excuse me. Um I disagree. This ordinance is necessary because we have a responsibility to protect residents from financial scams, particularly older adults who are frequently targeted. Federal reporting requirements help law enforcement investigate crimes after they occur. They do not prevent someone from losing thousands of dollars in the first place. That's why this ordinance is necessary. Once cash is converted to cryptocurrency and transferred, that money is often impossible to recover. Coinflip also points to its fraud warnings and screening questions and other safeguards, but scammers routinely coach victims through these transactions, including how to answer questions that are designed to detect fraud. The company argues that we should wait for statewide regulation. I welcome stronger state laws, but Ann Arbor residents deserve protection right now. These scams can wipe out a lifetime of savings in a matter of minutes. The financial and emotional consequences for victims and their families can be devastating. We cannot eliminate every scam, but we can make it harder for criminals to exploit our residents and we can limit the damage that they can do. That's exactly what this ordinance is designed to accomplish and I'm proud to support it. >> Further discussion. All in favor? All opposed? It is approved. Before an ordinance to add chapter 99 commercial vehicle markings of title seven of the code of the city of Ann Arbor. Moved by Councilmember Eyer. Seconded by Councilmember Watson. Discussion? Please hit before. Councilmember Eyer. >> Mayor, I'd like to move uh substitute ordinance. And it will be coming around. Can I Please. Um So >> [snorts] >> Do we need to second it before I can speak? >> Uh yes, I suppose so. Seconded by Councilmember Radina. >> Thank you. >> Okay, thank you. Um okay, so just briefly uh this new uh this substitution contains a number of amendments to the original commercial vehicle markings ordinance, which um which we uh postponed. The original proposal had two goals. First, to improve public safety and accountability by making it easier for residents to identify the businesses working in their neighborhoods and to help deter fraud and scams by people posing as legitimate contractors or service providers. The second goal was to improve security at construction job sites throughout the city by making it easier to identify which businesses and vehicles are entering and leaving those sites and who's supposed to be there and and who might not be. Following first reading though, we heard concerns from immigrant advocates about the potential unintended consequences of applying these requirements broadly, particularly to small businesses and immigrant workers. I took those concerns seriously and we've made substantial changes to the ordinance in response. The revised ordinance now applies only to vehicles operating at municipal and commercial construction sites. It no longer applies broadly to residential contractors and other service providers. This narrower approach addresses the concerns raised by immigrant advocates while still improving the important goal of job site security and accountability. Clear vehicle identification helps contractors and site managers know who is coming and going. I appreciate the advocates who worked with us and helped improve this legislation. Their feedback resulted in a more focused ordinance that balances public safety with concerns raised by the community in this current environment that we are operating in. If the environment hopefully when the environment changes, we can take another look at that broader set of regulations, but this is where we are right now and I encourage my colleagues to support the amended ordinance. >> Is the amendment friendly? Friendly. About any further discussion on the main motion as amended? Councilor Briggs. >> I just want to say thank you to Council Member Ayer for all of her work on this and her working to integrate some of the feedback that came at the table as well as from advocates in the community and I think this this new version really addresses that well. So, thanks. >> Further discussion? All in favor? All opposed? It is approved. It will go >> may I say something? >> Oh, by all means. I should say it's approved at this week going back to first reading. This is first reading. We'll be coming back for second reading at the appropriate time. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thank you. C1 an ordinance to amend pardon me C1 an ordinance to add section 1134.6 sweat-free procurement to chapter 14 of title 1 of the code of the city of the city of Ann Arbor. Moved by Councilmember Eyer, seconded by Councilmember Ghazi Edwin. Discussion, please, of C1. Councilmember Eyer. >> Thank you. A lot of work coming in here at the end of this council session. I'm very pleased to bring forward this sweat-free procurement ordinance tonight. This has been a priority of mine for several years, and I'm grateful that we are now ready to take this important step forward to make sure our purchasing practices reflect our commitment to workers' rights. In 2024, Council approved a resolution establishing the sweat-free procurement advisory group to examine the city's purchasing practices and recommend ways to prevent our tax dollars from supporting sweatshop labor. >> [snorts] >> I especially want to thank Ian Robinson for his leadership of the SPAG group and his dedication to this work. Ian is a long-time advocate for workers' rights in the community and his expertise and persistence have been instrumental in getting us to this point. I also want to thank the other members of the advisory group and city staff who contributed to this effort. The principle behind this ordinance is simple. Ann Arbor should not be spending taxpayer dollars on products made by workers who are exploited, denied basic rights, or forced to work in unsafe conditions. When the city seeks competitive bids for apparel, textiles, and related equipment under this ordinance, vendors will be required to identify the factories and subcontractors that actually produce those goods, including their names and locations. They'll have to identify whether those factories participate in a designated program that recognizes factories meeting responsible labor standards. This means we're no longer looking simply looking at a company selling us a product. We're looking further down the supply chain at the factories where the work is being done. The ordinance uses the designated factory partnership program maintained by the Alliance for Responsible Apparel Manufacturing and Purchasing. This gives our purchasing staff an established resource for identifying factories that respect workers rights rather than expecting city employees to independently investigate working conditions around the world. Importantly, this ordinance recognizes that some city departments do need specialized equipment for which there may be limited suppliers. The policy is designed to improve our purchasing practices without compromising the city's ability to provide essential services. I've long believed that government purchasing is an important tool for advancing our values. Just as we've worked to strengthen our best value procurement policies, we should also be using the city's purchasing power to support employees employers who treat workers with dignity and respect. This ordinance gives us a concrete way to do that and I'm proud to sponsor it and grateful to everyone who helped develop it. >> Further discussion. All in favor? All opposed? It is approved. C2 an ordinance to amend subsection 13152 public works qualifications required to title 14 part 1 to chapter 14 of title 1 of the code of the city of Ann Arbor moved by council member Eyer seconded by council member Radina. Discussion please of C2. >> Thank you. >> Council member Briere. >> Thank you. Um, so this ordinance is part of our ongoing work to strengthen Ann Arbor's best value procurement policy, particularly when it comes to job site safety. As background, although Ann Arbor has this contractor prequalification ordinance on the books, we don't currently use it. As we revise our best value procurement policy, we're looking at establishing a more comprehensive prequalification process to make sure contractors meet appropriate standards before they can bid on public works projects. So, tonight's amendment is a first step. It explicitly adds a contractor's safety record to the qualifications the city can consider during pre-qualification. We're also working on changes to best value to give job site safety greater weight when evaluating bids. We've strengthened our construction contracts already as I spoke about earlier this evening. And there's more work ahead including evaluating how to put a pre-qualification system into practice, finalizing revisions to best value procurement, and addressing potential grounds for contractor debarment. These are important steps toward making sure that when Ann Arbor spends public dollars, we're hiring qualified contractors with strong safety records who can deliver quality work. I appreciate the work of staff on these improvements and I ask for your support. >> Further discussion. All in favor? All opposed? It is approved. DC1 resolution to approve the release of affordable housing covenants on the condominium units of 105 Ashley Mews and 116 Ashley Mews and direct the city administrator to explore sale of the units to the Ann Arbor Community Land Trust. Moved by Council Member Dish, seconded by Council Member Ghazi Edine. Any discussion, please, of DC1? Council Member Dish. >> I'm really happy to see this on the agenda. These units were bought back from their owners by virtue of the non-compliance of those owners with the requirement that they be used as a primary residence and that they and that they respect affordable housing constraints. These provisions are so difficult to enforce and when they lapse, it can take years, actually, for the city to to enact the you know, to to to back up those provisions. And so, essentially, for what we've done is to buy these units back for around $250,000. Um staff has assessed that this this mode of achieving of achieving, sorry, affordable housing is not very effective because people who may meet those qualifications can't muster enough for a mortgage down payment and can't afford the monthly condo fees on these housing units. And so, what better way to advance our this level of affordable housing that we're looking for, which we sometimes call missing middle, and that's a category we need to to define better, but for tonight let's say this looks like it. Uh what better way than to sell these units to the Ann Arbor Community Land Trust for some fee, which I don't know if it had been determined. A dollar seemed to be mentioned in the memo, but I don't know if Mr. Dehring will want to negotiate that, and allow A2 CLT to sell these units at market rate and invest into the work they are doing to provide housing that is income restricted to 80,000 to people earning 80,000 um a year. Or that's eight No, I'm sorry. Eight I've got What's wrong with me? It's because I taught. I can't teach and be at this table on the same day. 80% of area median income. So, this is great. This is a wonderful gesture of support, material support for A2 CLT, and I'm really excited, and I apologize for it being past my bedtime. >> Councilmember Briggs. >> I'd like to share my excitement as well. I think this is a good move in terms of trying to move these uh support for the Ann Arbor Community Land Trust. However, um I just forwarded a round a proposed amendment that I'd like to um I'll like to propose amendment. I can read it and see if there's a second, I guess. Um, and that is that we would add another resolved clause um that reads that $257,000 be paid by a the Ann Arbor Community Land Trust to the city following ATCLT's sale of Ashley Mews units to reimburse the city's purchasing costs expensed by the general fund. >> Is there a second? Second by Council member Iyer. Uh, Council member Briggs. >> Yeah, and so the reason for doing this if we transfer these over um we were able to purchase them um at a reduced cost of of $257,000 because of the um affordability covenant that is on them. However, AT um the Community Land Trust will be selling them at fair market value and so I think it is appropriate um that the city be reimbursed um and our general fund be reimbursed to cover the costs that we have um to our general fund and that the remainder of those um proceeds are able to go to the Ann Arbor Community Land Trust and support um the provision of more affordable housing. >> Uh, for my part I I appreciate the uh uh the tension. Uh, right now we have uh two units that we have difficulty uh utilizing for an affordable purpose. We do have sunk costs associated with them. Uh, we have the Community Land Trust which is a a a nascent organization uh which certainly has a fair bit of community support and which requires um uh uh you know, capital infusion. Um, it's certainly, you know, reasonable to you know, I to have the uh to propose I think to for the city to be uh made whole here. For my part, I'm going to be voting no on this amendment. Um, it is a sunk cost that I This is a sunk cost that I'm content to bear um knowing that the um uh the 250 some odd thousand dollars would be a uh a benefit to us. It would be a uh a transformative windfall to the land trust. And so, I'll be appreciating the rationality, nevertheless voting no. Further discussion. On the amendment, roll call vote, please, starting with Starting with Councilmember Ryer. >> Councilmember Ryer. >> No. >> Councilmember Akman, absent. Councilmember Briggs. >> Yes. >> Councilmember Cornell, absent. Councilmember Dish. >> No. >> Councilmember Harrison. >> No. >> Councilmember Watson. >> No. >> Councilmember Malloy. >> Yes. >> Councilmember Medina. >> No. >> Councilmember Gazi-Edwin. >> No. >> Mayor Taylor. >> No. >> Motion fails. >> Further discussion on the main motion as amended, or rather as not amended. Further discussion on the main motion as was. Uh Well, on the main motion, I've said things about the amendment in the I've said things about the main motion in the context of the amendment, but I'll just say this. Um I, you know, I'm grateful that we have this opportunity to support the Community Land Trust. The city's work on Ashley Mews was a good effort. Um it was a proper plan to pursue, but nevertheless, we proved unable to accomplish our goal of providing real affordable housing for folks at this this income level with with a measure of ownership. Um we have concluded that this is not a business that we should be in, that our work is best done in the context of affordable housing. Nevertheless, this is a market this is an area of affordability of affordable housing that requires help, that requires action. We are not in a position to do it. The Community Land Trust may be. They're in the process of getting up off the ground. Um they do have some wins in the metaphor, and hopefully they'll have more downstream. With the money that they will obtain from the sale of these units, it will in my view prove to be a substantial accelerant to the organization. We'll see what they can accomplish. Further discussion. All in favor? All opposed? It is approved with nine council members present, all voting the affirmative, thus satisfying the eight vote requirement. DC2 resolution to acknowledge a declaration of restrictive covenant at 841 Broadway, moved by council member Dish, seconded by council member Watson. Discussion, please, of DC2. All in favor? All opposed? It is approved with nine council members present, all voting the affirmative, thus satisfying the eight vote requirement. DC3 resolution to accept an easement for water main at Arlington Place Condominium from the Arlington Place Condominium Association, moved by council member Dish, seconded by council member Malik. Discussion, please, of DC3. All in favor? All opposed? It is approved with nine council members present, thus all voting the affirmative, thus satisfying the eight vote requirement. DC4 resolution defining priorities for the Human Services Partnership, moved by council member Watson, seconded by council member Harrison. Discussion, please, of DC4. Council member Watson. >> The Human Services Partnership was started in 2021 after the end of coordinated funding. The program has a goal of combating poverty, racism, and trauma through three funding rounds, the long-term, high impact, and social safety net grants, and the yearly mini grants. This program is administered is is administered by the Office of Community and Economic Development, and funding recommendations are made by community reviewers. As a member of the HSP leadership team and of other committees that liaise with the county, I learned a great deal about the city's social services spending. OCED [snorts] staff and city staff have both remarked that it would be good for the city to define priorities for the program as we move into future funding rounds, and as we consider program renewal when the longer-term grants expire in 2028. This resolution directs staff to create an inventory of all city services spending that occurs through programs like through through programs like HSP, through federal pass-through as administered by the urban county executive committee, and through other funds like the public safety millage rebate and city marijuana excise tax funds. It will be useful for council to have an inventory of all social services funding as we consider future decisions. In addition, geographic targeting of low-income communities in Ann Arbor has to occur at lower than the zip code level that's used by the county because the city of Ann Arbor's areas of low-income uh individuals are are uh smaller than than any one zip code. Our zip codes when looked at in aggregate are actually very high income, but that does not mean that there's not poverty and bad outcomes in our community. So, we were asking staff to kind of put some put a some geography on on these issues. Now, um this uh this resolution also asks um staff and NHSP committee members to come together to form a list of priorities for future rounds. The resolution beginning this resolution begins that work by including a non-exclusive list of priorities starting with homelessness and services for unhoused residents in the downtown. We know that federal policy has hit our most vulnerable residents the hardest. County wide as as of the most recent point-in-time count from the continuum of care, there's an all-time system high with 821 individuals here in Washtenaw experiencing homelessness. Now [snorts] is the right time to affirm our commitment to social services spending in Ann Arbor and to use the data at our disposal to target these funds for maximum impact. This resolution starts that process and I hope you'll join me in supporting it tonight. >> Further discussion. Councilmember Ghazi Edwin. >> Thank you. I just want to thank the co-sponsors for this. It's so important, and I'd like to be added as a co-sponsor. >> Further discussion. All in favor. All opposed? It is [clears throat] approved. DC-5 resolution to extend the term of the current mayor pro tem and terms of returning council members moved by Councilmember Radina, seconded by Councilmember Eyer. Discussion, please, of DC-5. Councilmember Radina. >> Uh thank you, Mayor. I'll just speak really briefly. Uh uh I know that this was discussed previously at the Administration Committee and the city put out a really good explanation of this uh earlier this week. Um but essentially this is coming about because of a change in state law um that's really reflective of um frankly the advancements that we have made in in voting rights here in the city in the state of Michigan. Um you know, so we'd previously swear people in pretty quickly after an election every year. Um obviously with the good intention of reducing that kind of period of time where there would be uh a lame duck government, but um but the reality is that um over the last several cycles um and and kudos to our clerk for for raising this before it actually was even uh a requirement that we make this change. Um that there were there was the possibility that folks would be getting sworn into office per our charter before election results were even certified. Um which is obviously a problem. Uh state law has since changed um requiring that folks cannot be sworn in until December 1st. Um but uh our city charter up until this last week uh stipulated that council terms would end before the new government was sworn in. And so in order to ensure continuity of government um this would extend the term of the mayor pro tem so that in the case of an emergency or or in frankly just the case of doing business day-to-day um we have someone who can act in the mayor's capacity. And then this would also extend the term of our two council members who were reelected so that there's not a kind of awkward break in their term and in their representation of their constituents. Um so thank you all for supporting this and for ensuring that we have continuity in our local government. >> Further discussion. All in favor? All opposed? It is approved. DS1 resolution authorizing issuance of 2026 capital improvement bonds for various park capital improvements not to exceed 10 million dollars. Moved by council member Watson, seconded by council member Malik. Discussion please of DS1. Roll call vote please starting with council member Iyer. >> Council member Iyer? >> Yes. >> Council member Akman? Absent. Council member Briggs? >> Yes. >> Council member Cornell? Absent. Council member Dish? >> Yes. >> Council member Harrison? >> Yes. >> Council member Watson? >> Yes. >> Council member Malik? >> Yes. >> Council member Medina? >> Yes. >> Council member Gazi Edwin? >> Yes. >> Mayor Taylor? >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Uh DS2 resolution to approve the Dean 2 area plan. Moved by council member Dish, seconded by council member Iyer. Discussion please of DS2. All in favor? All opposed? It is approved. Do we have the pleasure of a closed session today? >> No, thank you, mayor. >> Alas. Uh we have before us the clerk's report of communications, petitions, and referrals. May I have a motion please to approve the clerk's report? Moved by council member Iyer, seconded by council member Harrison. Discussion please of the clerk's report. All in favor? All opposed? It is approved. Are there communications today from our city attorney? >> No, thank you, mayor. >> Oh, then uh we In the absence of public comment overflow, may I have a motion to adjourn please? Since it is the last meeting, I'll observe that our motion to adjourn typically uh I don't think provides for any conversation, but maybe there'll be conversation today. But may I have the motion to adjourn in any event? Moved by council member Briggs, seconded by council member Medina. Discussion of the motion to adjourn. >> Councilmember Riggs. >> Well, I'll kick us off. It was very hard to wait till the very end of the meeting to be able to say nice things, especially the way public comment ended this evening. But, I just wanted to um say um how much I appreciate all of my all of the outgoing council members. Um and um Mayor Taylor, I'll have a few things and hopefully I can squeeze them into this couple of minutes. Um >> I We're We're off the clock. >> Oh, wow. >> Yeah. That's right. >> [laughter] >> All right. I'll still try to squeeze them into a couple of >> Sure. >> Cuz I know there's others that'll follow me. Um so, uh maybe I will um start with you, Mayor Taylor, um which I am so grateful um to have been able to um serve with you um and learn from you. You are um You're the only one who's been at You're the one who's of course been at the table the longest, but all of us um joined after you know, have just been here on our second terms of the longest. So, um you've been You're professional and calm and decent and um you you run these meetings in a way that um even when they're tense and even when there's moments of disagreement, um we we transition to the next one um next issue um with a level of with respect um and really grateful for for you being able to to guide us forward in that manner. Um thank you for all the things that you've championed. Um they've been spoken to this evening, but um you will be missed deeply. So, um I also um Well, I will note that I I looked up how many things your fingerprints are on over the course of your years here um and that is 647 according to Legistar. [laughter] So, some are in many ways. Um I will move on to Councilmember Ackerman, even though she is not here, so I'll speak a little more briefly, but um she has been um my incredible ally in all things transportation, and I will um be deeply missing being able to work with [clears throat] her and her um learn from her policy wonky brain. Um but um I know that she will still be a amazing uh person to be able to work with in the community and bounce ideas off. Um and she will have a much calmer life ahead of her. Um uh Councilmember Ghazi Edwin, um also wanted to thank you. Um it's been a a pleasure to serve with you and to learn from you and to um all of the work that you've done around equity and accessibility and civil rights um is is inspiring. And so thank you for letting us learn from you and um uh do my best to carry that work forward. Um and Councilmember Watson, um also a real pleasure to to serve with you. Um another policy wonk and somebody I can know who will dive in deep lead all of these issues, so um we've been able to you've been such an incredible champion for human services. You saw that tonight. Um and um really appreciate how kind and collaborative you've been. Um and it's been a pleasure to see that you getting married and um you know, buying a house and sadly moving out of Ann Arbor, but um wishing you the best um in in in this next chapter. >> Further discussion? Councilmember Iyer. >> [snorts] >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh one of the things I really appreciate most about serving on Council, [snorts] and especially this particularly mix this particular mix of of Council members, is the different backgrounds and experiences and areas of expertise that everyone brings to the table. And each of our parting colleagues has made such important contributions to our collective work, leaving a really lasting impact on the city. First, Councilmember Watson, who grew up in Ann Arbor and has brought a deep commitment to economic and racial justice to council. His work on human services, affordable housing, and supporting residents experiencing poverty and homelessness has helped keep our attention to the needs of our most vulnerable residents. Thank you so much for the knowledge and perspective and commitment to public service you've brought here. Council member Ghazi Edwin has brought extensive experience in disability rights, in accessibility, and community advocacy, and she's turned that experience into meaningful policy changes, including Michigan's first right to sit ordinance, and improvements in accessibility throughout our city. Thank you for helping us better understand and address the barriers that too many people face, and for putting accessibility at the forefront of so many of our policy decisions over the years. And my word for colleague Dharma Akmon, who is not here, um but she's brought such considerable knowledge and passion in the areas of transportation, safety, and pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, and it's really led to major improvements um and advancements in making our roads safer for everyone. But I especially want to thank her for being such an outstanding partner in representing Ward 4. Her stellar communication, her quick responsiveness to residents, and her willingness to collaborate to address issues um facing our Ward 4 constituents has just meant so much to me, and I'm really going to miss working with her. And finally, Mayor Taylor. Your leadership has transformed our city. That is not an understatement to say. The A2Zero plan, the climate millage, the sustainable energy utility, the new heating franchise that forges a path to a geothermal future, and the affordable housing millage. These initiatives required vision, they required political courage, and they required the skill and ability to bring people together around hugely ambitious goals. Your legacy is a city that embraces big ideas and takes bold action. A city willing to lead the state and sometimes the entire nation in taking on the challenges we face. But what I want to thank you for most is your unwavering commitment to doing what is right. We've worked together through countless complicated policy questions and difficult votes, and through it all I have valued your judgment, your integrity, your willingness to listen and learn from others, and the way that you guide us through this work. I have learned so much working alongside you. I've also seen how much of yourself you've given, the sacrifices and the time that your family and colleagues see, but the broader community never will. And on a personal level, I'm grateful for your friendship, for your support, and the trust that we've developed working together. And I'm just just going to miss doing this work with you. So, I hope you leave this office with enormous pride in what you've accomplished and with the knowledge that the work you've done has left a lasting impact that will benefit this community decades into the future. Thank you for your leadership, your friendship, and your tireless efforts to make Ann Arbor a better place for everyone. >> Council member Overcashier. >> Thank you. Um I'm going to start with you, Christopher. Uh you know, I first met and got to know you through the Jim Toy Center. Um I was a board member and then as president, and I knew you to be a consistent ally and champion and supporter of our community as someone who always showed up when we needed you. Um you showed me that the fight for equal rights didn't have to be a fight against our government when we elected good people to serve in it. Um I remember how proud I was to share a champagne toast with you and Eva and Debbie Dingell and Jim Toy when um Obergefell came down and marriage equality became the law of the land. Um celebrating pride with you every year and working with you to improve our city's policies and our laws to protect LGBTQ residents. Um and then in 2018 when you asked me to be your second LGBTQ liaison. Um and back then I never thought that I would join you at this table. Um >> [clears throat] >> but working with you as a colleague over the last 6 years has given me an even deeper perspective into your leadership, your character, and your values. Um you've been an example of integrity, grace, courage, strength, and restraint even when you are not always met with the same good intentions. Um you have routinely helped this council and our community navigate complex issues, overcome difficult moments not just facing our community but in the globe around us. Um and to confront some of the most serious and timely challenges that we have faced as a city. Uh I think that's going to be the core of your legacy. You know, you're a climate and sustainability mayor, a housing mayor, a transportation and infrastructure mayor, an exceptional city services mayor, uh and yes, that includes the delivery of safe, reliable, and delicious water. >> [laughter] >> I also want to express my thanks to your family family uh with particularity. Eva, Henry, and Ruby. Uh for nearly two decades they have shared their husband and their dad with the city. Um when he has been criticized, threatened, or attacked, they have felt that too. And sometimes probably more personally than even you have. Um thank you for sharing him with us for all of these years. Uh for the sacrifice, for planning your lives around our council calendar and community events, and for being a first family of which our entire city can be proud. Um Finally, over all the years that I have known you, I have been grateful to rely on you as a mentor, a collaborator, a confidant, and a friend. Uh I cannot adequately express my gratitude for how much I for you and how much I am going to miss you at this table. Um, but please know that Ann Arbor is better because of your thoughtful, compassionate, and progressive leadership. And I just cannot thank you enough. Thank you. Uh, Aisha. >> [laughter] >> Uh, I still remember the day that I met you as well, uh, while knocking doors on my own campaign and seeing your husband, who we all saw tonight. Um, who I've known since 2008 when we worked on March Shauer's campaign together. Um, I believe you were moving into your new house in the Turnberry neighborhood and he would not let me leave before he introduced me to his incredible wife, who is about to join the Human Rights Commission. Um, during my first couple of years on council, I had the privilege of serving alongside you on the Human Rights Commission. Uh, and got to know you as a friend, a colleague, and a champion of human and civil rights. Uh, so when Julie Grand shared that she was not seeking re-election, it took very little time for both of us to decide that we had to convince you to do it. Um, Ward 3 voters clearly agreed because you were elected without opposition. And uh, over the last four four years, uh, you have given so much of yourself to this council and to our community. You have been a relentless in your pursuit for making Ann Arbor a more accessible and just place to live and work. Uh, as your husband noted earlier, you were a mom of two very young children when you were first elected. So when people talk about the sacrifices that elected officials make, time away from family, you understand it more than most. So, thank you because I know how hard that was. Um, thank you for being an incredible partner, a tireless advocate for Ward 3, and most importantly, a friend. Thank you for sharing so much of yourself with us. Uh, for being there for me personally when I've had personal and family challenges. And thank you for being so unshakable in your commitment to your values, even when you've been confronted with hate and racism and horribleness. Um, thank you. Um and simply for the long-term positive impact that your work is going to have on the city. Um I also cannot express how sad I am that after tonight I will no longer be able to simply lean to my right during a meeting to run something by you, ask what you're thinking about an amendment or a vote, um and collaborate with you on securing a win for Ward 3. So, I'm going to miss you and thank you. Um Chris, I promised you I'd keep this brief because I've already shared all of my feelings and my deep displeasure with your departure far too many times. >> [laughter] >> When I first met you at York about 4 and 1/2 years ago to learn more about you and your potential campaign for City Council, little did I know that in the years that would follow I wouldn't simply have the joy of seeing you work and working alongside you, but also that you would become such a close personal friend, marrying one of my dear friends, and becoming a person that I will celebrate friendsgiving with, and uh hearing over and over and over again about your times at Yale. >> [laughter and clears throat] >> Uh thank you for stepping forward in service, for always being a model of a council member who does the work and takes the time to understand every issue before us, um for your commitment to racial justice, housing access and affordability, and simply good government. Um I'm really, [clears throat] really excited for you and Lauren to begin this next chapter together. Um and I'm going to miss you. Um and finally, Dharma, um and because I know that I've been speaking for a really long time, um I know that this missing tonight was not how you planned or wanted to end your time on Council. Um so, rather than taking a whole bunch more time, I am going to tell you that I'm going to reserve all of my positive thoughts and wishes for you until you see me again in person, so that I can tell you face-to-face how wonderful you are. Um but uh as your ward colleague pointed out, your um impact on our city has been incredible, and um I'm going to miss you as a colleague and as a partner [clears throat] and as somebody who occasionally I spar over issues with. So, thank you for your service. >> Further discussion? Council member Malik. >> Thank you, Mayor. Others have said it better than I can tonight, but I still want to briefly add my own thanks to your service to the city, Mayor Taylor. And express my gratitude for your leadership and friendship. You have a remarkable ability to walk into even some of the toughest situations with a smile and an energy I wish I could match. Maybe someday. That optimism and steady presence have made a real difference both to this council and to our community. And I'm grateful for the example you've set. I also want to thank council members Ackerman and Ghazi Edwin. When the two of you speak my most frequent thought is dang, I wish I'd thought of saying that. You'll be missed. Both of you were incredibly supportive when I first decided to run for city council and I still think back to those early conversations. I remember meeting with Dharma in particular sometime in the year before I joined council. I told her that I was hesitant to run because I had never held elected office before and I felt pretty unqualified for the job. She responded very matter-of-factly, "Yep, I felt the same way when I ran. But the only requirement is wanting to make Ann Arbor better." Then she moved right on to the next topic like it was nothing. It was such a simple, concise answer, no long speech, no elaborate pep talk, but it was exactly what I needed to hear and I stopped worrying about it. I've always appreciated that advice and I'm grateful that both of you encouraged me in those early days and offered to assist me in any way you could. >> [clears throat] >> Finally, Council member Watson. What can I say? You've been an incredible wardmate, fellow economist, and an even better friend these past 2 years. Most people think being on City Council is all about the meetings and the votes. But, what most don't see is that constituent services, the emails, phone calls, neighborhood meetings, and countless conversations are what truly make up the job. I was lucky enough to have a front row seat to watch you in action, and I got to see the amount of time, care, and thought you put into even the most routine email responses. Time and time again, I watched you go above and beyond to meet the needs of Ward 2 residents. That dedication to the role and to Ward 2 gave me the best possible example of what it means to be a City Council member when I first joined this body. Beyond that, you were always there to offer advice, to bounce ideas off of, even ask even my most basic questions to, and of course, occasionally vent, too. I recall one conversation when I was very confidently advocating for something that is clear to me now was the wrong course of action at the time. You patiently explained to me why I was wrong, and if I recall correctly, you even turned my own phrase against me by saying, quote, "Don't be a silly ding-dong." >> [laughter] >> It was at It was at that moment that I knew we'd be friends long after our time on Council together. Um perhaps your biggest fault is when we're here at the Council table and I get a case of the giggles, or I get a little squirrely, you tend to feed my frenzy >> [laughter] >> rather than get me in line, and I will miss that. Um but in sum, Chris, thank you for being such a remarkable public servant and for setting an example that I have tried to follow every day that I've served with you. And thank you, even more importantly, for being such a fantastic friend these past few years. I'm deeply grateful for both your partnership and your friendship, and I know Ward 2 has been better served because of them. Thank you. >> Council member Dish. >> Thank you. Uh I'm going to be really brief cuz everyone has stole stolen every single word I wanted to use, but I'm going to say that I am really um awed and grateful, Mayor Taylor, for your by your and for your creativity. I think that's part of what fuels your vision. There is also that you are the moral compass of this council. Uh uh former Council member Work- Worphal put it so incredibly well. I was grateful for his words. You have a remarkable ability to find the yes and answers, and that's a political creativity that is so important, and I don't really know how we'll do that. >> [laughter] >> We I hope we learned enough that we can do that. Uh and now I'm going to speed through my other pieces of gratitude. Uh Dharma Akmon, I wish you were here so that we could hug you in person, but we will get together with you no matter what. You have been an inspiring advocate for multimodal transportation, and a person who answers constituent emails not only speedily, but also in just remarkable detail. Um and you have changed the way I move around the city. I bike in part because I'm inspired by my colleagues who do this, and inspired to think I can. Uh Chris Watson, I I you kill me with your ability to use numbers to tell stories. That's you just always had. You thought you looked up the number, and then you threw it in a story, and there we were, and that is that's been remarkable. Aisha, it was so I was so grateful for the work that you did to bring your social work expertise into our policy work, especially on the club. I felt like you really moved us forward. So, you know. It's been unbelievably good to be on this council. >> Councilmember Harrison. >> Okay, so thank you, Mayor. I for as many um statements and speeches that that I write, um I really actually really struggled um to prepare one um I think because I just really been in denial that this um is coming to an end today. And so, I'm going to start off by saying ditto to I mean I I don't think I could have said it any better than in than my peers have, but um I will be brief and uh say a few things. Um >> [snorts] >> You know, first and I feel like déjà vu, but I'm not going to you know, I'm I'm not going to turn on the waterworks, but Christopher, um I just want to say thank you um for your dedication to the city that I love so much. Um You know, you have made so many remarkable things happen here um that I have benefited from, my family has benefited from. Um it's been an honor and a pleasure to serve with you. Um I you know, I'm going to miss our walk-and-talks, even though the last walk-and-talk we had, I was wearing heels. >> [laughter] >> And I really I should have been more prepared with some comfortable shoes on, but um I I hope that you know, there I do have an opportunity to to have another walk-and-talk with you. And this time I promise I will I will wear some comfortable shoes. Um so, again, you know, thank you for all that you've done. Thank you for being um a wonderful peer. Thank you for being a friend. Thank you for your smile. Thank you for the ability to just, you know, continue on with the business even when folks have been just, you know, really awful. Some Some people have said some really awful things and you just, you know, you've you've continued to run the meeting with dignity and with pride. And I appreciate you for that. So, thank you. And also, I'd love to come to one of your your choir, you know, rehearsals and and and sing with you or, you know, just, you know, see that see that part of you. So, please don't forget to like let me know when something's going on. >> [laughter] >> So, [snorts] moving on to to Dharma, and I will counsel member I will reach out to her, you know, to say my good goodbye to her in person, but you know, if she's watching or listening, I just, you know, I want her just to I think about that that first night, the night that the election night 4 years ago. And after, you know, knocking doors day in day in and out and, you know, working hard, you know, to communicate with with our residents and and and voters, we shared a special moment that night that I think was featured on the cover of MLive or on on one of the pictures. And so, that was that was a fantastic moment and I think about it often. So, I'm really going to miss you, Dharma. Your your work, you know, with equity for cycling, the bike lanes, I you know, [clears throat] I just I I think about you. Um you know, and I really appreciate all the work that you've done with transportation and and transportation equity and multimodal transportation. Moving on to Councilmember Ghazi Edwin, Councilmember Watson, um, class of '22 along with myself and Dharma, um, you know, you two, uh, we three, uh, along with, uh, Lonnie Song, made, uh, Ann Arbor City Council the most diverse City Council in Ann Arbor history. Um, so, I just, you know, that was a a legacy that, um, will remain, um, and and hopefully it will it will continue on it will continue on with the next council, but, um, hopefully, you know, after we're all gone it will that that will continue. Uh, your work, uh, Councilmember Ghazi Edwin, my sister, by the way, on accessibility, um, has just been remarkable, you know, what you have, um, accomplished for the city, your legislation, um, I thank you because, um, you know, we will benefit from it from that and anybody that comes after us, um, you know, our our our children, our grandchildren will, you know, benefit with all that you've done, um, you know, for equity, accessibility, and disability rights. Uh, my brother, Councilmember Watson, uh, um, you know, I I will really miss, uh, I want to first of all thank you for all the work that you've done with civil rights, um, equity, and the work that you've done for the most marginalized. Um, you know, I I have feel like I've watched you grow, um, and, you know, I'm going to miss sitting next to you and I'm going to miss the way that we really have lifted each other up after we've made our statements. And so, um, I am so proud of you and just seeing you and your family grow and congratulations to you and Lauren for you know, your I I you know, just your new home, your new life and I really I hope that we you know, will stay close in touch. And I promise the two of you that I will continue the work that you have started all the work in in in equity on equity and working so hard for the most marginalized and I hope to make you proud in the work that I continue to do here on City Council. That was a little bit lengthier than I thought it would be. Anyway, thank you all. I'll miss you and [clears throat] I hope that we can all stay in touch. Love you guys. >> Further discussion? >> [laughter] >> I am in front of a politician and you know, >> [laughter] >> um well I I'll just I'll give some prepared remarks I guess. Being a city council member in Ann Arbor means meeting people in the community that you learn from, share values with and look up to who come from all walks of life. It also means being confronted with tricky and intractable municipal issues paired with strong and differing opinions on how best to solve them. Every time I have found an issue in the city I am frustrated by, an item delayed or a project that had unintended consequences, I have quite quickly found another city initiative where staff solved a resident's problem, made more progress than expected and often helped make Ann Arbor a statewide or nationwide leader in the policy area. This is what makes serving on Ann Arbor City Council such a reward rewarding experience. Ward 2, I've been grateful to serve as your council member, to do my best to answer your questions and to advocate for your interests. The breadth and depth of this role has been vast, but know that I gave it my all. It has [snorts] been a true privilege to serve the ward I grew up in. Thank you to those who trusted me with your votes and to those who engaged even when you disagreed. I came to council at a unique time. I have served with some amazing colleagues. I am able to look around the table tonight and say I have worked closely on meaningful resolutions, ordinances, and budget amendments with each and every one of you and all who sat at this dais during my term. None of this could have happened without Mayor Taylor. You wielded your gavel with humility and grace. It's been an honor to serve with you. This council is historic in its diversity across race, gender, age, and orientation, which is significant given the history of our city and our country. It's also the first time that two black council members have gotten to serve side by side in the same term. And at these meetings, literally, we literally sit side by side. >> [gasps] >> I'm proud that this representation will continue after my term ends. There are too many to to thank tonight in one list, but I want to thank Ward 2 council members who came before me and those who will continue after me. Most immediately, Lynn Song, Kathy Griswold, John Malick, and Sandy Aldridge. Our ward [snorts] is as unique and diverse as each of your perspectives, and I've been grateful for our conversations. Thank you for your willingness to serve. Lastly, to my family and friends, I could not have done this without you. Your love, patience, and kindness kept me going and kept me grounded. At my first meeting, my dad was sitting in the audience. He would have been here tonight had the had he not accomplished his own version of the American dream, retiring somewhere a bit warmer. At this final meeting, I'm accompanied by my rock, my wife, Lauren Kaufman Watson. We met almost exactly 4 years ago and got married this summer. She's been at my side and in my corner sharing in every triumph and sacrifice. I love you, Lauren. We've come a long way and we have a lot to look forward to. This city is in good hands. The staff, elected, and residents have so much to contribute. As I step away, I will be rooting for Ann Arbor's continued success. >> Catherine Garcia Edwin. >> I'll read some prepared remarks, too. Um, just so I don't start crying, but that might happen anyway. So, as I close out my last meeting on city council, I keep thinking about what it means to serve the place that raised you. Ann Arbor's where I grew up, where I'm raising my children, and where I've had the privilege of helping shape our future. Serving Ward 3 has been the greatest honor of my life. As an immigrant, a South Asian, this work has always been deeply personal. Growing up here, especially after 9/11, I never saw [clears throat] someone who looked like me in a position of power. I know what it means to wonder whether you belong, whether your voice matters, and whether the people making decisions see you and your family. I hope that serving has given someone else who thinks they possibly could not belong in leadership an opportunity to think, "If she can do it, so can I." As my husband shared, when I decided to run, my youngest was 5 months old and my oldest was 3, and they are both still wild. >> [laughter] >> Um, my name was on the ballot, but my whole family made a commitment to this community. Michael cared for our children through countless evenings, and my parents and my sister stepped up again and again so that I could be here. I'm endlessly thankful to them. Thankful Thank Thankful for their patience, their encouragement, and everything that they give so that I could serve. Um having that support also made me more more aware that people who would like to serve in office don't always have the resources or support to do so. Working parents, single people, people holding multiple jobs, people with disabilities at times don't have the support to serve in government. I hope that we continue to open the door wider for folks so that more representation can can continue to happen. So, I you know, I have many things I'm trying to read an abridged version, but I'm proud of some of [clears throat] the policies that we've passed here together from right to sit to housing bill of rights to county IDs. None of it would have been possible without the collaboration of all of these amazing colleagues. Um many of those ideas came from residents, and none of it would have been possible without the amazing city staff that we have. I want to personally thank uh city administrator Milton Dehoney. Thank you for your steadfast leadership. Thank you for your advice, your steadiness. Um deputy city administrator Marie Maria Walton, attorney Eileen Carr. Thank you so much for everything that you've done for our city, and so many others. I mean, I think that frequently city staff takes so much heat and are not given the recognition they deserve for all the hard work they put in to actually make policies happen every day. Thank you also to clerk Bodrey, who's here diligently meeting after meeting and keeps democracy alive and protects it in our city. So, I I has been a privilege and an honor to serve not just with these colleagues who've taught me so much about myself, about how to not take things personally, how to challenge myself and grow. Um but also it's been an honor and a privilege to to work with the with these staff members. We are truly a blessed city that we have such an amazing set of staff. Um thank you to my work colleague, Council Member Redondo, for encouraging me to step in, for um helping me when I started freaking out saying I can't do it, for laughing with me when I, as Council Member Malick said, get squirrely, um and also being like, "Lucia, calm down." >> [laughter] >> And [clears throat] for helping me really work through sometimes really complex and difficult constituent issues. Thank you for everything. Mayor Taylor, ah, here we go, waterworks are starting. You've just been an amazing leader. >> [laughter] >> And it's been it's been a real honor to serve under your leadership. >> [snorts] >> I get emotional because I've seen you go through so much hate. Um and so much bullying, but you've really been a transformative leader. You know, growing up here, we wondered but didn't understand all of the housing that was coming up. >> [snorts] >> Um and serving with you and your just relentless commitment to we need to be able to allow more people to live here has transformed our city for the better. And I hope you know that. Um and also thank you just for, you know, always demonstrating civility. Always, even when people are screaming at the top of their lungs, that you always ending every comment with a thank you. It really just shows so much, >> [snorts] >> I think, um just character that you have, and that's why you were perfect for this job. And you've achieved so much. And also thank you for coming to all my classes. You would show up and even when the students would debate you and challenge you and push you, you always showed up even when it was hard. And thank you for doing that. >> [snorts] >> You know, I I could continue crying for a while. I'm also just so sleep deprived, but so many people here, I just want to thank you for your friendship, for pushing me to be a better person. It's really been an honor and a privilege to serve with you, and a privilege to serve residents of Ward 3. Thank you. >> Further discussion. I know there's no further discussion. >> [gasps] >> So, uh my friends, uh I too have prepared remarks. Uh this is my last meeting, uh 18 years of Monday nights. And it has been a turbulent era. The Great Recession, Trump 1, COVID, Trump 2, social media, unrelenting late-stage capitalism, an information and social environment where we are overloaded and agitated. You've done this with dysfunction in Lansing and degradation in Washington. And in the face of it all, we, at this table, in this city hall, have remained focused on our task, which, as you may have heard, is to improve basic services and enhance quality of life. Pure and delicious drinking water, safe waste water, better storm water detention, reliable solid waste, expanded recycling and composting, improved and safer roads, treasured parks, professional police and fire, medical transport, and always free and fair elections. In Ann Arbor, even with decades of starve-the-beast disinvestment from above, your government has delivered these core services every single day, better every year. And we have also worked to improve quality of life, and here too, we have succeeded. We have visionary land use policy to expand much needed housing supply for affordability and to create 15-minute neighborhoods. We have a generational expansion in income qualified affordable housing tripling our housing supply over the next 10 years, next few years. Transformational and community focused municipal climate action under A20 rebates, benchmarking, solarize, and a real and groundbreaking public power alternative to DTE, the sustainable energy utility. 100 homes this year, 1,000 homes next year, next year, next year. An enduring commitment to rework our transportation system on the principle that all users deserve safe streets. A library lot that will work for us all. Free tampons and pads in every public restroom. A driving equality ordinance. Accelerated economic development. Strengthened tenants' rights. Best value contracting. Expanded disability rights and accommodation. Better human services. A nation A nascent crisis response program. And so much more that we have done together. All this with balanced budgets, the elimination of our structural deficit, and a bond rating that is second to none. But the most important thing that we do the most important thing that we deliver at City Hall, from City Hall, does not make headlines. When you have a business with When When you have business with the city of Ann Arbor, if you want a permit, an inspection, a license, an approval, an assessment, a road repaired, a right protected, a ticket reviewed, if you call for help, it doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter where you live. It doesn't matter what party you belong to, who you supported, who you know, how much money you have. None of that matters. Because we are here to serve you with respect, professionalism, and every ounce of our ability. Doing the work without bias or favor, looking ahead, planning, always planning. It is good government. Good government asks something of us too at this table, to act with grace, to never punch down, to acknowledge the complexity and the imperfectness of the world and ourselves, and to listen with an open heart to words of opposition. None of this is glamorous, and none of this fits on a yard sign, but I have come to treasure it more and more, partly because of what we see at other levels of government and society, favors traded, rules bent for friends, hardened for foes, stagecraft instead of work. The way we do things at City Hall, it is not a small thing, it is everything. And so here is what I ask of us. Let us claim that this is a crucial part of who we are. Ann Arbor takes pride in so many things, righteous pride, our university, our culture, our economy, our neighborhoods, our values. We should put City Hall on that list. Be proud of your government with all of its imperfections, because if our broken country has a chance of greatness, it runs through places like Ann Arbor, through communities that do the serious, beautiful, and never-finished work of government. And so, all that is left is gratitude. I'm grateful first and always to my family. My in-laws, Gay, departed George, Julie, Steve, my brother, Andrew, my parents, Mickey and Alan, our children, Henry and Ruby, and of course, my Eva. Local government, as you have heard, as you might suspect, it takes a toll on loved ones. There is time away, the constant publicness of it all, and some people are simply not kind. You have been through everything with me. You are amazing and strong, and I couldn't have done it without you. Thank you. I'm grateful for Mayor Heavey and the late Roger Frazier for their foresight. They committed to hard change in advance of the Great Recession. Their work, we must recollect, it laid the foundation for the effective sustainable organization that we have today. So, thank you. I'm grateful to my colleagues, my many colleagues, past, but particularly present. The remarkable work that you do, that you have done. I'm grateful for that, but I am more grateful for the people you are. Local officials, we attract projected anxieties. We We attract resentments, and it can be emotionally draining. But your energy, your drive, your values, [snorts] your vision, your doggedness in the face of it all, you have helped me. You have helped with friendship and with accountability. You've helped me bear the weight of service and to chart a course when I was uncertain. So, for that and so much else, I thank you. I'm grateful to our staff, our employees, our police officers, our firefighters, our water and wastewater treatment workers, the people in solid waste, customer service, the clerk's office, sustainability, public works, parks, planning, building, the folks in finance, legal, and administration, and on and on. I have learned so much from you, and I have had a front-row seat to your expertise, your forethought, your grace, your good cheer, and your unrelenting professionalism. You come every single day without fanfare. But if everyone could see you in action as I have, they would know what I know. And that is that you deserve praise beyond measure. Thank you. And finally, I'm grateful to the residents of Ann Arbor. Whenever I talk to folks outside the city about the work that we do here, people are astonished. They are astonished at our ambition, at our progress. How can we, a small Midwest city, do so much in housing, climate action, transportation, do so well with what we have in the everyday work? We can do this because our community believes in the obligation to act and to support each other. And just as our predecessors invested in our present, our community recognizes our duty to invest in the future. Ann Arbor believes in a community that works for everyone today and tomorrow. And we have the ambition and the ability to get it done. You have entrusted me to be part of that project, and that has been the honor of a lifetime. And so, I just want to say thank you. Further discussion? We are adjourned. Oh, rather, I guess I have to vote. All those in favor? Opposed? We are indeed adjourned. Thanks, everyone. >> [applause] [applause]