good evening and welcome to Durham city hall it's great to see everyone in here and it is 7 o'clock so I'm going to go ahead and call the meeting to order Madame clerk will you please call the role I'm sorry not a work session at this moment we'll have a moment of silence thank you at this time we'll uh have the Pledge of Allegiance led by council member Freeman thank you it's our practice to stand the salute the flag as we say the Pledge of Allegiance IED Al to flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for
all thank you now at this time Madame clerk if you will please call the RO thank you Mr Mayor mayor Williams I'm here mayor Pro Middleton I'm here council member Baker here council member cook here council member cabayo here council member Freeman president council member rest here thank you thank you so much and thanks for the phone going off I go ahead and say if you will just please place your phones on operate all right and uh we have a few ceremonial a items tonight um FBLA organization I was in in high school um will be read by uh council member Freeman fbl future Business Leaders of America good evening everyone uh presenting the future Business Leaders of America to Jason
Brooks whereas future Business Leaders of America Inc fbl is a nonprofit education organization whose first chapter was established in Johnson City Tennessee in 1942 by Dr Hamlin L Faulkner and whereas North Carolina state chapter was chartered in Spring of 1954 and whereas Southern School of energy and sustainability officially then Southern High School chartered its FB L's a local chapter on January 29th 1958 and whereas the nationally future Le Business Leaders of America includes more than 200,000 members and advisers of and advisers in 4600 chapters locally in the city of durm future Business Leaders of America includes hundreds of students and more than 12 high schools and 10 Middle School chapters and whereas future
business leaders of America strives to build a students understanding of the realities of a modern business business World by bringing business and education together and whereas future Business Leaders of America teaches students basic business and Leadership principles and assists them in the transition from school to work for the benefit of our great City and whereas the future Business Leaders members perform community service activities such as food clothing and toy drives including individual School locations and partner with organizations and groups throughout the city and now therefore I Leon Leonardo Williams mayor of the city of durm North Carolina do hereby Proclaim February 11th through the 17th as future Business Leaders of America week in the city of durm and hereby urge all residents to take note and observance witness my hand on the corporate seal of the city of durm North Carolina this the 19th day of February 20124 uh Leonardo Williams
[Applause] good evening thank you uh mayor and everyone we appreciate [Applause] it good evening everyone it's my honor to read the student Mental Health Awareness Day Proclamation and um if Keenan crumble could come up okay maybe okay I'm going to go proceed then um whereas the mental health and well-being of our students are of Paramount importance contributing significantly to their overall academic success personal growth and academic
achievement and whereas a 2023 report by NC child showed as of 2020 10% of children in North Carolina ages 3 to 17 had received a diagnosis diagnosis of depression or anxiety the same report stated that 20% of high school students in North Carolina reported seriously considering suicide in 2021 10% stating that they had made an actual attempt and whereas recognizing the unique challenges and pressures faced by students in today's society it is essential to raise awareness about mental health issues and Foster an environment that ENC encourages open dialogue understanding support and whereas the city of Durham is committed to promoting the mental health and well-being of its student population acknowledging the vital role it plays in building a resilient and thriving community and whereas the city of Durham wishes to observe a day dedicated to student mental health awareness emphasizing the importance of mental health education resources destigmatizing conversations around mental health now therefore I Leonardo Williams mayor of the city of Durham North Carolina do hereby Proclaim February 21 2024 as student Mental
Health Awareness Day in the city of Durham and hereby call upon all residents Educators Community leaders students and encourage all citizens to join activities and discussions that promote understanding support and awareness of mental health issuing issues affecting students witness my hand in the corporate seal of the city of Durham North Carolina this 19th day of February 2024 all right director tomson if you can join me up here please and council member cabier thank you for reading that uh I think student mental health is Wonder of our biggest and most silent issues that we have to face in this community uh and I hope that we really do take it into practice
as a community um but I have the honor of reading a proclamation to um our Communications honoring government communicators day and I have the crew sneaking up on me like that all right and the proclamation reads whereas if effective communication is fundamental to the functioning of a vibrant and transparent democracy and whereas the tireless efforts and creativity of government communicators play a pivotal role in informing engaging and empowering residents and whereas recognizing government communicators day provides an opportunity to recognize and appreciate the dedication professionalism and expertise of those who serve in this vital capacity oh I'm sorry know we got to have some entertainment with it you know all right
caught me off guard again sorry where was I it's the first Proclamation I messed up on all right thank you Communications um whereas through their commitment to Clarity and accessibility and accuracy government communicators enhanced public understanding of policies programs and services fostering Trust and accountability within our and whereas their work contributes to Building Bridges between government entities and the diverse communities they serve promoted inclusivity and Equitable access to information in many ways including government television media relations social media the city website digital and print Publications and the language access whereas in times of Crisis government communicators serve as a lifeline delivering crucial updates guidance and resources to ensure the safety and well-being of all residents now therefore I Leonardo
Williams mayor of the city of Durham North Carolina do hereby Proclaim February 24th 2024 as Government communicators day in Durham and hereby urge all residents to join me in expressing gratitude for the invaluable contributions of the city of Durham Communications Department to better to the betterment of of our city and our democracy witness my hand in the corporate seal of the city of Durham North Carolina this 19th day of February 2024 thank you and all of the little gests you have going on there thank you mayor Williams for issuing the first ever Proclamation for local government Communications in Durham as you were reading it of course there was a carousel playing showing members of the communications team at work often we're behind the scenes um but much of what we do is really
important to the work of the entire city our job is to make sure that information about the work of our dedicated City staff our programs and our services are shared with the public whether it's through the media from which the public tends to get their information or through our own channels like our website Publications social media or even through our own channels um other than um those are the Durham television network which was responsible for broadcasting the council meetings and other programming also for the past 3 years our work to offer meaningful access to Residents who may not speak English very well uh especially Spanish has made a huge impact I am so proud to to introduce our communication can't talk communication staff who are with with us here tonight with us is Amy blala she is the assistant director um Blake
Hodge y who is our website administrator does an awesome job and Michelle Gomez Cespedes who is our language access coordinator and Senior Communications analyst and Viv Cruz odor who many of you see running back and forth to make sure um the project projector and the computer are working well and Deja Deja bunan she is our internal communication specialist um not with us tonight are n Carla web Watts web rather who is a communication analyst and Hannah Watts who is our senior employee Communications analyst and SRA Sandra Keener who is our business Services analyst who handles all the important business uh things that happen in the Communications Department finally finally I have to say I have to thank our city manager Wanda page for
recognizing the importance of effective Communications and providing the resources that we need to do our job well thank you all right thank you all so much all right at this time I'll I hear any announcements from my colleagues on the council starting from my left council member cook um good evening I just want to recognize our budget staff really quickly um we this past Friday as many of you probably saw we had our um first Retreat of the season to talk about our
budget which we will pass in June um this process is very open to the public so I encourage folks to get involved but um our budget staff along with many other staff um here at the city uh did such a fantastic job getting us started in that conversation um I also want to shout them out because um and I'm going to read this because I don't want to mess it up they were awarded the government Finance Officers Association distinguished budget presentation award for our fiscal budget last year so congratulations to the budget staff um and thank you so much for all of your hard work I also want to recognize everyone that is here tonight I've said this before and I will keep saying it thank you so much for coming it is such a good reminder um when we have folks literally overflowing this room sitting in the lobby um How Deeply everyone cares for the city of Durham and how important it is um for accountability and to have the voices heard here tonight um this body is regularly doing work around zoning around budgeting these things are so
interconnected as somebody said last week when we were discussing this exact topic I know many of you are here to talk about the ceasefire resolution that's coming on the agenda later um I just want to say that I hope that you will stay for the zoning I hope that you will keep coming back for our meetings in the future we have so many important things we're working on and I just am excited to see the engagement and I hope it will continue thank you thank you council member Baker we'll put council member cook um two quick things one um this is mo more for my colleagues up here um on the dis but I think I've spoken with with most of you about this um called a uh meeting uh among departments to talk about Street infrastructure design that is has been such a major issue you know we have our our vision zero coordinator um and um that was a a productive meeting and I think that there are going to be some good things that come out of it and some actions that we can potentially take up here on Council so I just wanted to raise that um as as something to keep an eye on um the second thing is we've been
receiving a lot of emails about Elby Creek and the sedimentary uh pollution runoff that's been that's been going this into Elby Creek we know it's not just Elby Creek but but that has been getting a lot of attention of attention recently um that is a a purview mostly of the county with their engineering and environmental services um we have been in communication with them we'll continue to be this is an issue that's on our radar and one that I hope that we can we can work on potentially find some regulatory uh improvements that we can make as well um so some more to come on that that's everything for me thank you good evening everyone um for being here it's a packed house again um and just really quickly I do want to acknowledge um the country of Chile that is my home country there has been really large wildfires there I'm not sure if folks have been paying attention and last count was 134 uh folks who have died and it's been
um a pretty devastating um disaster and so just extending uh my thoughts to thank you uh to my right uh council member Freeman good evening I would just like to add that um during the seasonal l i you know wearing my green just knowing this is the growing season and just acknowledging I'm in in a season of reflection and just looking back over the last few years and just thinking about all the things and ways that things could been different and what I can do moving forward I do want to also just add early voting has started and that you should visit your early voting sites so that you're not having an excuse on Election Day for why you have not made it there so um I know there's a lot of folks who like to vote on Election Day and that's fine but if you're not one of those folks who are trying to do that it would be um highly
encouraged that you go ahead and vote early um at one of those voting locations um throughout durm I did also want to just say that there's a lot there's a lot there's so much um happening right now and I just want to encourage us to be human with one another and offer grace and mercy acknowledging that our words have meanings and can cause harm that uh I want to make sure that we're being kind and compassionate to one another we don't want to let this uh season of hate and season of of kind of vitriol that's been developing over the last few years um take over uh what what the what we've been able to do in our city and what we've been able to do in our communities um so let's let's keep moving forward thank you that's all uh thank you Mr Mayor Mr Mayor Pam colleagues and thanks for those comments by the way councilwoman Freeman um
greetings everyone thank you for being here tonight again I echo my colleagues comments really welcoming the engaged participation from so many residents from the city of Durham um on a somewhat lighter note but also serious note I want to say that I had the pleasure of participating in the annual Gaya of Meals on Wheels this weekend this is the 45th year of meals and wheels in Durham if you don't know Meals on Wheels they provide over 150,000 meals to adult mostly adults but also other homebound individuals on an annual basis over seven almost 700 volunteers participate on an annual basis in the work of Meals on Wheels so um think it's a great model of community building and encourage others who are interested to get involved in Meals on Wheels I should say just on a lighter note I want to give thanks to the Mr Mayor struggling out on the Dance Floor there the mayor came to my rescue and provided some quick uh on on on que guidance on the cupid slide so thanks for that that tutorial on the dance floor so thank you you're welcome uh May Pro all right I uh my comment ments have
have been uh taken um I was going to say thank you to the budget staff for uh getting us started uh and congrats on the award uh that they received I was also going to talk about um The Mills on Wheels Gayla and how important that is and and how much fun we had just you know supporting the cause and uh you know just uh raising funds to ensure that that that that service can be continued and um also the uh just making sure that you know we understand that early voting has started and uh this state relies on Durham heavily and uh we need to make sure that we are doing our part all right and you will need your ID to vote you will need your ID to vote so make make sure you have that with with
you all right I look forward to us getting into this agenda tonight um and as soon as I can sorry yeah locate my iPad there there it is all right here we go all right so I will go ahead and recognize the manager for any priority items she may have good evening Mr Mayor Williams Mr Mayor Pro Tim Middleton and members of the Durham city council the city manager's office has no priority items this evening thank you thank you I'll now recognize our City attorney good evening mayor Williams mayor pron Middleton members of the city council it's good to see you the city attorney's office has no priority items tonight thank you and Madam clerk thank you Mr Mayor and Mr Mayor proam City Council Members the city clerk's office office also has no priority items
tonight thank you so much all right I am I'm just going to read on your screen small all right at this time I'll uh read the uh consent agenda consent agenda consists of items previously discussed at our work session including some items that have been carried over to the general business agenda item number one approval of city council minutes number two Durham open space and trails commission appointment number three human relations commission appointment four mayor's Council for women appointment number five mayor's Hispanic Latino commit committee appointment number six participatory budgeting steering committee appointment
number seven racial Equity commission appointment number eight December 2023 bid report number nine audit Services oversight committee 2023 annual report 10 billing and collections performance audit January 2024 11 Durham Convention and visitors bureau DBA discover Durham 2023 annual report 12 2023 Board of adjustment annual report 13 2023 appearance commission annual report 14 2023 Durham open space and trails commission annual report 15 2023 Durham Planning Commission annual report 16 2023 Durham historic preservation commission annual report 17 resolution for conveyance of surplus properties to Durham Community Land trustees Incorporated 18 2023 citizens advisory
Comm committee annual report 19 third amendment to license agreement with American Towers LLC for the emergency communications department at Parkwood tower 20 Durham cultural Advisory Board 2023 annual report 21 Durham environmental Affairs board 20 23 annual report 22 Durham Convention Center Authority board 2023 annual report 23 housing appeals board annual report for fiscal year 2023 24 an amendment to non-discrimination ordinance 25 First Amendment to contract with infinity Bridges Incorporated to deliver dur momentum 360 financial academy 26 2023 Recreation activity advisory commission annual report 27 resolution accepting the City of Raleigh storm water restoration funding agreement for the South L storm waterer
project 28 First Amendment to service contract with kimley horn and Associates LLC 29 contract with ESO Solutions Incorporated for records management system 30 smart uh Street Smart LLC software as a service contract Amendment 312 23 bicycle and pedestrian advisory commission annual report 32 interlocal agreement with the city of Durham Central Pines Regional Council and Durham County regarding cost sharing for the city of Durham Durham County Bicycle and pedestrian plan 33 amendment number four to Professional Services contract with drmp Incorporated for Woodcraft Parkway extension 34 supplemental agreement number four for multimotor Grants support with wsp USA Incorporated 35 Tar River land conserv Norris Farm Watershed protection project authorization to
fund 36 Eno River Association raria Gardens raria Gardens I think I messed it up last time Watershed protection project 37 proposed Bill credit for water customers completing water service line material surveys 38 proposed boundary revision for the Southeast Regional lift station service area 46 resolution supporting an end to the violence between Israel and Palestine 40 Consolidated annexation sagebrook 41 Consolidated annexation 5802 South Miami Boulevard multif family 42 zoning map change 1339 Co Road 43 text Amendment remainder lot with ENT Y is that everything all right I'll now
entertain a motion to accept the uh consent agenda move to adopt consent second it's been moved and properly seconded Madam clerk will you please open the vote please close the vote the motion passes unanimously is okay okay okay all right so we are now thank you so much we're now on our first um General business agenda item are you going to do the resolution first or last business that is I'm sorry I overlooked that okay
so our our NE our first order of business is uh discussing the uh resolution uh resolution supporting an end to the violance between Israel and Palestine all right as we uh get into this I uh do have well over 50 speakers signed up for this and so one moment please all right Council uh colleagues uh I
have well over 50 speakers signed up for the uh the resolution and I have I believe two two three four people signed up um just a few people signed up for sagebrook um public hearing and I don't think I have any for and I have just a fe for the others would it be the pleasure of this Council to allow us to adjust the agenda um based on the speakers would you all be okay with that Mr Mayor if I might I will certainly defer to your judgment but I think our regular practice actually would put the pulled items at at the end of the meeting um and we would just go on with the regular business and then whatever is pulled we go at the end of the night so that that's how we do it regular order but I'll certainly defer uh to the Judgment of the council and and and your discretion Mr Mayor thank you thank you council member thank you is it GBA or is
it pulled I think yeah I think it's GBA it's not a pulled item not our practice because it's not a pulled consent item I'm I am perfectly fine doing the zoning cases first if other council members are fine with that I just wanted to clarify the consent agenda versus the agenda item because that it's not on consent so typically we would do General business and then our public hearings un zoning and I'm perfectly comfortable based on what everybody else has say we're going start withing the order and taking yes the zoning cases I I I just don't have that many people signed up for them um however this is the stack for ceire M Mr Mayor can do you mind if I just tell folks out in the crowd why yes okay so typically I don't mind I'm sorry okay I took your yeses to yes go thanks uh just so folks aren't confused since there are so many people here to speak on item number 46 um it is a way to get the folks applicants and others including staff
who are planning staff who may not need to stay until we get through um and so that is why we are making uh that suggestion I just didn't want folks to not understand what was happening thank you I would just add that that would also allow for more folks to be in the room if we could let some of those other folks who need to just go ahead and get on sounds good uh we're we're not letting anyone else in right now because of capacity if we address these items here um first we'll be able to allow folks to leave and then let more people in um let's see which is the first one Sage Brook that is number 40 all right hello there all right we are on item number
40 um also before we get into this there are a lot of people here and there are a lot of people outside as well uh well over 100 uh so if I call your name what I'm going to do is call everyone's name for this item if you're not in here I am going to that person is not in here and if you can hear me outside I will write your name down and pass it over to the clerk for her to go and have you come inside to speak if you have signed up so for this item just so we can get it going on step what I'll do is just call their name out real quick step report okay actually we'll we'll uh go ahead and hear the staff report for item number 40 thank you mayor I'm mayor Williams mayor per Middleton and honorable council members uh good evening I'm Andy Lester of the planning department and I'm happy to be here with you tonight uh before I begin i' would like to State for the record that all planning department hearing items have been advertised and noticed in accordance with state law state and
local law and affidavit to all notices are on file in the planning department uh this case was originally heard at the October 2nd 2023 city council meeting and referred back to staff so the applicant could applicant could perform additional research and make any changes to the proposal for the council to consider uh these included uh researching the one foot strip of land lands ownership adjacent to the site providing ownership documentation and providing additional commitments such as 10 income restricted units an additional Durham public uh schools contribution of $60,000 uh these proffers are not reflected in the staff report but listed in the development plan at the January 2nd 2024 city council meeting uh the applicant requested a continuance the public is still open an item is before this the council for your consideration thank you and then staff and the applicant are here for any questions all right thank you uh colleagues we've heard the staff report are there any questions for
staff all right this item is a public hearing and at this time I'll declare that public hearing open and I will uh we have the applicant here I'll go ahead and read those names so we can uh just ensure we have them available online or in person and I do have a lot of people here saying that they're in person Madam clerk rather than not not virtual so that's Donna stanback pamila Williams Wanda Allen and I think Randy Herman is the applicant or okay gotcha those names that I called are you all in here oh there's the crew there they are all right you're here and I have also online which would be Rebecca Freeman Tina mle Pearson and um Jan zadat so you can check to see if they're online Madam cler I'd appreciate it they
are okay good all right Mr Herman uh how much time do you you already you already the applicant correct uh yes Mr Mayor all right uh how much time do you believe you you think you need well I was thinking about that um some of the members of council that are seating seated now were not here when we initially presented it so I'm not sure if I should represent the entire case or just do an update um five minutes are you I'm going to say uh so are you planning to present the whole case right now um I'm just going to do highlights if that's okay all right Madame clerk if you can give uh 10 minutes you don't have to use all 10
okay uh thank you mayor Williams mayor protm Middleton members of council uh Randy Harmon attorney from the law firm of ba folk I'm here representing the applicant Capital City Homes uh with regard to this resoning application for sagebrook um as stated this has come before the council before um but some changes have been made from the to the proposal from the previous version uh and so I wanted to go give an overview of uh the entire case um so first of all um I did want to state that the um the two owners of Capitol City Homes and also the engineer uh were planning to be here tonight they weren't able to get into the building and we're hoping to come back um but since the agenda got switched um they are I am able to reach them but they are not here in the building right now um but to begin with who is Capital City Homes Capital City Homes is a local Builder um it's basically two guys who
own the company uh founded in 2010 and since then they have built uh 1,250 homes approximately in the triangle area um they build throughout the triangle uh they're based in Wake Forest just down the road um and they are known for reasonably priced homes and environmentally responsible building we'll talk about some of the details of that when we get to it um so as an overview um this property is located on Burton Road near Chek Road uh it's 17. 9 43 um to allow for up to 120 town home units so this is the subject property it's these three Parcels uh again on Burton Road just north of Chek uh currently the property is undeveloped um on the place type map this property is designated as
residential mixed neighborhood um so as the policy says the uh residential mixed neighborhood is intended for a variety of housing types uh and specifically if the uh property is fewer than 20 developable acres uh the intent is that um the project would increase the mix of housing types so for a larger project over 20 acres uh the intent the intent is that the project would contain multiple unit types within the project uh for a small smaller one like this which again about 177 Acres uh the intent is that it increases the the diversity of housing types by providing a housing type that is not available uh in that area and this is that's exactly what this does so all of the surrounding uh neighborhoods are detach single family residential on relatively large Lots um this again would be a town home project and therefore would um make available a type of housing that is not currently available in the area
um so what does the comprehensive plan have to say uh about this again um the intent is to create a diversity of housing types um mixed residential neighborhoods should be supported by existing public infrastructure and we'll talk about the public infrastructure that's available to the site in a minute conservation design should be used so uh sens sensitive environmental features uh are intended to be protected um and cluster development is supposed to to occur on the least sensitive portions of the site the existing zoning is rural residential um so under the uniform development ordinance rural residential is intended to uh be preserved long term only within the rural tier uh this property is located within the Suburban tier and so what the Udo says is that property uh within the suburban and urban tiers uh that have rural residential zoning are intended to be reson to more intensive uh zoning districts so the the
Udo specifically contemplates that properties like this should be rezoned to allow for a greater density and to make use of the infrastructure um that the city has invested in so this is the development plan um so you can see there are significant uh areas of environmental concern essentially the front of the property um the area long Burton Road uh there is a stream uh with some Wetlands surrounding it um that area uh is not intended to be developed will not be developed um there the current plan is for two Crossings of that Stream So that then uh Town Homes can be built essentially behind it um so in keeping with the the intent of the comprehensive plan um the units will be as we say cluster developed in the least sensitive areas and the the more sensitive areas will be preserved uh Community benefits coming from this project so the storm water
control measures uh will be sized for the 100-year storm uh we are proposing a one-time donation uh or we have committed to a onetime donation of $60,000 to Durham Public Schools that's about $500 per unit uh in addition uh 10 dwelling units would be designated as income restricted for um people making not more than 80% of the area medium income um 10 units out of 120 is about 8% uh in addition to those income restricted units um the the rest of the units will be market rate but will be significantly less uh than what is currently available in that area um so as you can see right now or as of when I made this slide a couple weeks ago um the average home price for homes available in Durham um um at that time was 392,000 uh for homes specifically in this area around this development uh
they range from 430,000 to 470,000 um so again the the homes that are available in the area uh tend to be single family detached houses larger houses on larger Lots uh the Target price for these units would be 300,000 so uh even at the the market rate uh units they would the they would still be significantly cheaper than the overall average for the city and uh significantly cheaper than the homes that are currently available in this part of the city um if the property were not to be rezoned and were to be developed under the existing rural residential zoning um we could get somewhere between 12 and 15 homes um these would be 1acre homes on well and septic uh property is currently in the county um and our analysis is that in order uh for that project to make sense because again we would still have to cross the stream stream Crossings are very expensive so in order
for um that development uh with single family homes to make sense you would be looking at houses that are at least 800,000 uh so the uh and of course the commitments um would not apply so by rezoning this property uh the city has the ability to uh make it it possible for there to be more Homes at a lower price um and also uh to uh to create this commitment for specifically affordable um dedicated affordable units um we also have a series of design commitments um so uh to give the council a sense of what the property will look like um so even though these are will be sold at a relatively low price these are not um cheaply built homes they're not poorly made homes they will have uh 30-y architectural shingles um clad in in brick and stone siding um windows on the
signs and there's also a provision uh for uh what we call a non- monotony provision so that not all the units will look the same it give some a variety of appearance among those homes uh this is not a a commitment but just to give a sense um because uh you know the commitment is is is again Craftsman style Town Homes not everybody may have a sense of what that looks like so this is um just to give an idea of what those units might look like in neutral colors um in addition to the rezoning this is a Consolidated annexation so we're also asking for the property to be annexed into the city limits um as staff pointed out in their report this would be a uh um non-contiguous annexation uh but only technically so as you can see from this map there is one lot between our property and the contiguous
city limits of the city um in addition um and that's to the West also to the North and South you can see that there are um contiguous uh limits essentially surrounding this site with existing uh neighborhoods so although we understand the the city's position that it would prefer not to do any more noncontiguous annexation we think in this case uh it does make a lot of sense um and it's only non-contiguous in the technical sense uh in addition the the reason why the the city has a policy of not um wanting to do non-contiguous annexation is has to do with infrastructure not wanting to extend uh additional infrastructure you know far out from the city limits um but in this case that doesn't apply um even the surrounding lots are all in the county not in the city um there is City water in sewer running in all of those roads uh for whatever reason um from when the properties were developed so that
infrastructure is already out there the city has already invested in it uh and we would be able to tap into that and make use of it um in a way that we think makes sense for the city and this just shows the uh specific utility connections that would be made in order to connect this uh to the existing infrastructure uh happy to answer any questions that any members of council have and uh and uh we ask for your support thank you so much and I am going to start with my online speakers oh all right um I have Jan zadat can you hear me yes I can hear you H all right you can speak closer into the mic I can I can barely hear you okay that's much better thank you you have three minutes okay I'm I own the lot TR behind
the proposed uh developments uh and as we speak right now we are landlocked and uh we have no access to any roads I mean we right now live in New Jersey me and my wife but we uh originally from North Carolina and we are are planning to retire down there and we don't have any access and we were basically opposing the whole thing the the development due to the uh landlock and to that one foot they told us about there's a one foot between their developments and the the Lots right behind it and here recently I found out that they found out who owned that lot and I I and it just the main concern here for us not to be landlocked by this development I I would say so that's our main concern that because that will render our plan to develop the uh Lots or to move down there and reti down
there I guess we can do it if we are land locked but we're not going to have access to anything and we cannot afford to uh you know to do anything I guess about it so we would appreciate it if the board take that in consideration and make make sure we're not going to be left uh with lots or with no access to any Ro appreciate that you want to add anything I want okay I think that will be all thank you and if you don't mind I'm sorry I didn't ask you before could you sayate your name I mean yeah your name my name is gasan yeah gasan Z okay and could you state your address please for the record yes uh I okay we live right now that's okay thank you you don't have to yeah but we have that yes you got it right there we're all good thank you so much for joining us tonight all right uh Madam cler next I have Tina Motley
Pearson CA can you hear me sorry can you hear me hey can you hear me yes you're good to go you have three minutes all right thank you um I don't know if it's possible for staff to put up um attachment e up for people to see it was just um it was just up for a little bit when um the applicant spoke uh good evening city council my name is Tina mle Pearson and my address is on file um if you are able to look at attachment e um be aware that the elevation change is at least 30 ft and that concerns me because of the possibility of blast ing also notice that there is an existing neighborhood and some of these houses were built in the 1970s and earlier so they may be on whales I know there's water and sewer out there though but if there is blasting I hope that we don't have the same Fiasco as what happened to the 10 wells off Junction Road which
still haven't been fixed since the blasting ruined them over a year ago and you know I know it seems like we're sort of beating the same drum for years and we continue because the problems aren't solved you know there's sediment issues from new development water pollution damage to local residence homes and Wells from blasting with new accountability lack of infrastructure EMS and fire Services the list goes on but it is important to keep bringing these topics up because a lot of these issues aren't resolved and more developments are continuously being annexed and I know it's difficult to build an highly eras of traic basin soils without having problems with sediment especially with mass grading and Blasting so do we know if this development will require blasting if so how will that affect all the homes surrounding the new development and what kind of safeguards are in place to protect the existing residents past experience has shown that there are no safeguards Panther Creek is already polluted will more development contribute to its degradation please keep these issues in mind when you
consider the density of developments we should limit Mass grading and blasting in environmentally sensitive areas thank you so much for your time thank you so much for joining us next I have Rebecca Freeman she on there hello hey there you go um thanks for joining us you have three minutes okay thank you so much I'm Rebecca Freeman with Southeast durm 27703 and thank you for your time tonight three three factors should be enough to say no to this project first of all Panther Creek runs along one long border of the site as shown by the two creek crossings which is not a great idea dur City Water tested Panther Creek water quality in 29 2019 the water quality was 81 out of 100 Al low B just two years later in 2021 water quality
93 6. 943 GL masquerading blasting destroys all trees vegetation roots on the site leaving a desolate Dusty desert that with rainfall heaves heavy loads of sediment ending up in Creeks right there in Panther Creek in the in the are area there high velocity runoff rips away stream Banks trees fall into Creeks then impaired D drainage and flooding already costing taxpayers millions of dollars in multiple stream Restorations new storm water regulations have not documented Effectiveness Creeks still run red after rainfall I'm assuming blasting is needed
for this and as what atina mentioned just a moment ago County residents are being victimized due to unpaid damages damages are huge often running into thousand of dollars house foundations are crack have cracks and failures interior walls have separating or separating ceilings uneven interior floors cause heavily and disabled residents difficulty in getting around inside their own homes cracks in home in exteriors due to Air Blast and um the um all this comes at a heavy price forced on County residents after two years of suffering through through damages enough is enough I say please no no more why doesn't somebody realize that aggressive topography change in the site is not compatible and this this is not side is not compatible with mass grading and blasting in addition to the TRC Basin sols destroying natural drainage that developed over thousands of years destroys our Creeks the en environmental
Devastation continues in southeast Durham but where are the environmentalists in Durham where are they in W county in North Carolina Where is the outrage of these streams running red and all this Mass massive blasting where does Durham enlarges why does Durham enlarges task space b at the expense of County residents why are County residents being ignored why keep pushing a square peg into a ground hole time and time again to try to come out with the same result why not try something different figure out a way to develop within the constraints of topography and difficult tric Basin thank you so much M freem work with it not thank you so much thanks for joining us all right at this time I am going to I'm it's not that many so I'll go Ahad and call all the names you can just queue up I have Donna stanach Pamela Williams W Wanda Allen that's it uh you have a
presentation all right okay good evening welcome you have three minutes thank you good evening mayor Williams and mayor protim Middleton and council members my name is Donna stainback and I am a lifelong uh member of this neighborhood Redwood and I was raised about a half a mile from uh the intersection um this proposal is inconsistent with the place type map um policies 174 and 175 I guess the interpretation is different because we looked at it and said that within that development it should have mixed residential types and not isolated indiscrete parts of the
development and with one policy 175 it also mentions about with the less than 20 acres it should be a mix of housing types and immediate fac vicinity all mixed residential neighborhoods should include housing at a variety of price points and sizes so I live out there and I can tell you the average price of the house is not or a townhouse is not around 400,000 that is not the price and if these come out in our neighborhood it will drive our taxes up cuz most you know good average price for out there is around 200,000 so um now it for a townhouse maybe somewhere else in Durham it might be different um right now only tow houses are proposed I would request a single family and a town homes be mixed on due
to the existing traffic and the crashes and the area and to fit into the uh existing neighborhood um input from the community included flooding runoff affordability higher density forcing more impervious and more flooding loss of rural area impact to Wildlife there at Panther Creek there are two vehicle Crossings at the creek and these generally cause environmental issues the buffer in the zone map Change Report I think needs to be updated or it say uh 20 foot and 4% opacity but it should be um The Border should be 30 foot and six uh 06 opacity with uh 10t undisturbed the traffic is a bad intersection at at a level of service D and it will be at a level of service f
with this development there's no Transit plan out there it would be it is a non-contiguous City parcel and it does not meet the 15minute community rule by the comprehensive plan travel is forced by car blasting is probable thank you so much I am against [Applause] it do you have separate slide good to see you miss Wanda you have three minutes thank you hi everyone I'm Wanda Allan I live in dur and my uh address is on record thank you I I'm waiting for my slide to come up please mam clerk just let's hold thank you everyone um thank you again for allowing me to speak I truly was looking forward to this proposal tonight and this plan because I was
looking forward to see how some of the new policies was going to be implemented on this uh plan so let's look at this chart here this plan does not meet any of the requirements that are listed in the comprehensive plan and that was approved by you uh city council and as well as the County Commissioners policy 103 104 116 171 182 the policy clearly states complete neighborhood is a place of residence live and have easy access to the needs of food life medicine schools libraries and all the basics within to 10 to 15 minute walk or bus or a bike ride this proposal does not meet this the proposal does not meet or contribute to creating a place where the citizens can serve by a commercial
commercial place a library there is not Transportation proposed for this there's no sidewalks Burton Road is a very heavy traffic area a lot of people use this to come from Roxboro they use it for the construction commercial uh Vehicles so definitely it does not meet policy 116 171 and 182 also policy 103 and 104 addresses Parks ensure that all residents live in the urban growth boundary are within a safe 10-minute walking distance to a public park land please note the park was taken out of this project the policy clearly includes a mix of residential and non-residential use and a mix of housing types so I give you just a short overview tonight that this project does not meet what we as Citi citizens have worked so hard with
the planning department to come up with a comprehensive plan thank [Applause] you welcome good afternoon U my name is Pam Williams um my uh address is on file um and I'm going to jump right into it uh there there are no proposed improvements near this side per the 2050 Metropolitan Transportation plan for Rose Transit pedestrians and bicyclist this type of development that will require car dependency should be built closer to the urban area with multimotor exists and is accessible with little extra expense to the city per the comprehensive plan approved in October 2023 the site doesn't meet the following policies policy 59 States drastically reduces automobile dependency policy 61 prioritize transportation services for
residents without access to car there are no amenities grocery stores Parks Schools jobs Etc within 2 to five miles policy 69 is not met improved transportation land use planning there is no proactively designed for future transportation in this area policy 103 within a safe 10minute walking distance of a public park land the only way to a park is by a car and no Park shall plan within 10 minutes of this site again this site as proposed does not offer access to nearby jobs education facilities services and Transit except by cars I would like to bring to your attention that within uh the last four years the major intersection at the ends of Burton Road include eight crashes at Chek Road uh which is about 500 feet of from this site and 11 crashes at Gear street which is approximately 6,000 uh feet north of the site again Burton Road is used to cross from uh I 85 over to 70
and uh Nell tier drives their trucks down at quite a bit to uh from the Quarry uh even though these roads at this site are State on the approval of high density developments has increased the vehicles at or above the roadways capacities uh without any plans to improve the roadway system please consider the increasing impact uh that this will do to this area again I um because of the connections to Chadwick is not available kids W to ride a bike in the Glen Forest community area from this townhouse um they have no access uh I urge the applicant and Duram staff to find a way to provide access for cars and kids in the neighborhood so only one driveway on Burton Road will be needed since there's two there now it's just a short distance from the intersection of CH Ro thank you thank you so
much okay all right those are all of the uh cards that I have all of the speakers I have this is a public hearing there those are all of the Cs I have um and this is the public hearing at this time I will allow the applic to respond thank you Mary Williams I just wanted to say a few things quickly just to correct the record um so um our analysis is that no blasting will be required at this site um we're not 100% on that but there is no indication that blasting will be required um there will be Mass grading because it's town homes and There's no practical way to grade individual lots for Town Homes because they all sit kind of together so you have to do the whole slab at once or else itn't doesn't make any sense um so there will be M grading but there won't we don't expect that there will be any blasting um regarding the uh the mix of
housing types um I talked about it a little bit earlier but the uh we believe we are meeting the intent of that policy by um building a housing type that is not currently available in the area so right now there are no town homes in the immediate area they're all detached single family homes um and essentially the policy says that for um projects that are less than 20 acres you meet that by providing a housing type that is uh different from what is surrounding the site um you don't necessarily have to provide different housing types uh within the site just because it's kind of a smaller project um we will be building sidewalk um along the front of our project on Burton Road is true that there are not any other sidewalks uh right now to connect it to we hope that those will come eventually but um we are building what we can on the the area that we have control of um and uh finally for uh Mr Zod do um uh he owns Five Lots uh that are
immediately behind this project um his northernmost lot touches Chadwick road so he does have access um to the road uh it's certainly possible that he could provide access to the rest of his Lots they're all contiguous um but regardless those lots were landlocked when the um when that neighborhood was ploted back in the 60s uh that certainly wouldn't be allowed now but it it was allowed at the time that it was developed um and uh whether or not we'll be able to provide access to him um we think is not a matter for the resoning that's a matter for um uh when we do a a site plan approval further along in the process uh we may or may not be required to provide access but that's going to be true regardless of uh whether the property is rezoned or not even if we were to develop it under the existing rural residential zoning we might have to provide him access we might not but it's not really uh it doesn't affect the resoning either way uh happy to answer any questions
from member of council all right um all right I'll now declare this public hearing to be closed and the matter is back before the council colleagues council member cook okay good evening this um I have several questions I'm just going to start out this might be a better one for staff did we did we get a definitive answer on who owns that that small strip of land I can answer that okay great or either way um yes so we did uh research the title of that one foot strip we've identified the owner so uh when the adjacent subdivision was developed uh back in the 60s this was a piece that was retained uh by the original developer uh whose name was Jim Holt let's see if I can bring this
up um so it was originally uh owned by the the developer Jim Hol and his wife Jean Roberts Holt Mr Holt has died um but his wife is still alive she's about 96 um so we have been in touch with her son who is her power of attorney we're under contract to purchase that one foot strip um so uh we do intend to uh purchase it and with that purchase would that come would would there be an extension of Chadwick Road or was that was it was there a different plan for that purchase um so uh first of all that there are two halves of it um so the uh mol um owns a 50% interest the other 50% interest that was owned by Mr Holt has gone through a couple of steps and eventually is now in in the name of a trust we've been talking to the trust but we don't have an agreement with them yet but the intent is uh to purchase
that as well um but the the one foot strip is not part of the uh resoning proposal um so and and uh as you've seen the development plan does not show Road locations other than those stream Crossings so it's possible that that we may need to extend it uh when we get further along in the process um but uh it's not we would prefer not to for environmental reasons um there's an area of of wetlands up there that we that would be better not to disturb uh if possible um but if we are if we have to extend it we'll extend it but again we don't believe that that affects the rezoning either way um that's going to be true regardless of what the zoning of the property is thank you so my next question is about um capacity so I see on the proposal that it um you have proposed 37% as a maximum in prvious site um we've also heard the number 120 town homes and I also read that there's
not going to be any garages so what is the size of the town homes that we're looking at can you give me a scale of bedrooms that sort of thing and and I'm just having a little bit trouble understanding how all these things are going to fit on such a small sure um so first of all the the commitment for no uh garages was taken out at the last revision so that is no longer a commitment um they may have garages they may not it's not committed either way um but um Yes 120 Town Homes will fit within the the 37% impervious um the the rest of the property will not be developed um again it's it's 17 Acres so um there is uh plenty of room for that number of units um they are intended to be uh either two or or three story um probably about two to three bedrooms and you had a slide earlier about um proposed sale value you said
that you were going to Target $300,000 that's right um where did you get that number is that something that you've compared other Town Homes to in the area um so a lot of it is based on the cost of inputs so the land um labor materials um you know we want to we want to sell town homes so uh the uh as cheap as we can make them that still makes sense and works within the the parameters of of what things cost um that's what we're going to do and and our analysis is that we can do them for about 300,000 assuming that there's no major change in like Lumber costs between now and then which does sometimes happen but um that is the intent gotta and and then I was wondering if you could just speak a little bit towards the um the entry and exit I know that there's going to need to be a crossing of some Wetlands could you just give us a little bit more detail about that let's see if this um so there are
two uh locations proposed on the development plan for stream Crossings and the development plan of course is an element of the resoning um so those uh locations would be the locations that we would have to use if the resoning is approved um so there's they both come from Burton Road um and uh and are located where they are also to to minimize impacts on the the other Wetlands that are located on there um the uh engineer um Tim ginger has is also here um and is now he wasn't here earlier but is available to answer questions if needed just for the record thank you that's all my questions thanks all right council member Baker yeah uh good to see you Mr Herman um you mentioned uh no blasting on the site correct uh can you make a commitment to
that hold on yes okay get on that stuff um we've seen a couple we've seen a couple couple changes um since since the Planning Commission um one of the one of the biggest ones was the 10 units of uh we call it affordable housing 80% Ami for 30 years um which is a little less than 10% but pretty close pretty close to the the comprehensive plan goal um so that's good to see um you received a 012 vote at the Planning Commission can you
can you speak to that and what you think you've done to uh to bring things you know make it put put it in a better place um to earn our approval yes so um the main things that we have changed since then we we've added the commitment all all three of those primary commitments uh oh I lost my slide um all three of these have been added since Planning Commission um the I believe we did have a profer to Durham public schools at the time but it was much smaller um so the the uh commitment to uh capture the 100-year storm um again $500 per unit to Durham Public Schools uh and then the the 10 uh committed affordable units all of those have been added since Planning Commission as a response um to the the feedback that we got and um so um we certainly understand planning commission's concerns and and have been attempting to address them thank you um just a couple things
here I just wanted to mention a couple things um one is you talked about the utilities uh the fact that this is non-contiguous contiguous with uh Municipal boundary um I would also add Services um to that um so so maybe the utilities are there but this does mean that trash trucks um fire police they're they're going to have to cross uh County Land to to get um to uh non-contiguous land which for one development is fine but if we keep doing this over and over and many and that is why it is a comprehensive plan policy and that is why it is something that we do need to consider um while we make while make we make these uh decisions because death by a thousand paper cuts little by little it can have an impact um and also something that just doesn't sit sit well with me is is um when when developers talk uh and I think there's a couple ways of interpreting it it's providing information of the kinds of development that's allowed today by right in the
county under the existing zoning um and um but the other way of of of of interpreting that is is sort of uh a threat of we will develop this way if you don't give us exactly what we've requested and I think the message that that I often convey and a couple other colleagues up here often convey is we want res we're open to rezonings and development um but we request rezonings that are consistent with um the the comprehensive plan and this one is very close to consistency with the comprehensive plan and a lot of ways um and and does have me weighing both sides of of this one it's it's not so clearcut it's an awkward site it's an awkward parcel um commissioner CE who I've quoted before um you know he had some things to say here that it's just a single housing type it may technically meet the MRP uh the the mix mix residential Place type um under the 20 acre threshold just barely but the
proposal doesn't contrib to creating a place where quote residents are served by supporting commercial Civic institutional places in the media area um and that's important and we're not getting those kinds of rezonings over and over and over and I feel like applicants are coming and threatening to build under the current zoning regulations as an excuse for never ever meeting the comprehensive plan policies um and and we just can't continue to keep approving those types of rezonings and this one is uh an awkward site um and so I'm I'm undecided right now um so turn things over to my colleagues we're just going down though okay um thank you um real quick to the you had the slide where it showed basically the map of the Lots can you pull that up thank you that one thank you um
whoever did that thank you um so I had just a question so I I get you know it's a non-contiguous and I understand where the where the services are in the road and so it makes a little bit more sense to me like I can understand why there there's an ask to be annexed were there any conversations with neighbors around helping because my guess is probably there might be neighbors who also want those services but it's probably cost prohibitive for them to tie in to that sewer um and and water um I know that our fees are pretty high um so just out of curiosity was there any conversation with neighbors about being a good neighbor and maybe helping um I have not heard from any of the neighbors that that is something that they want um there are it's a mix in that uh surrounding neighborhood um you know there there is water and sewer in the roads some of the lots are connected some of them are not um so it's kind of a mix but my my understanding is that I don't I don't
believe that there's anybody out there who doesn't have City water that really wants it um and then with the neighbor behind you that's landlocked same thing like what conversations um just for colleagues sake I'm leaning yes because if I go to the actual table at the end I think it's our attachment 16 in our packet and you just go by and you just do a count of consistency with the comp plan it it's more way more yeses than NOS um and I think the and this is some of the issues I actually have with our comp plan um the the ask for services and and all of this diversity like you get that with density nobody's going to put a grocery store no one's going to put commercial because they have to all of it whether we have an opinion on it or not isn't at the end of the day people build things to make money that's the system we can all have an opinion on whether we like that system um but that's not what we're
doing when we do rezonings um and so to get transit to get some of these amenities that folks name which are good it there has to be a lot more housing to make the numbers work for people who would maybe want to do commercial or a mix and I think when we start to see some of the stuff filling in I think we are going to see proposals where there's a small commercial or there's something else but if we keep saying no then we're just going to keep getting it's like we just get into a cycle of yes single family homes that are more autod driven like at some point one thing makes the other thing go and maybe I'm rambling a little bit here um so I don't necessarily love a lot of the things that we see but it is around choices our choices are in that slide we're going to get 14 homes and if you drive out 98 towards Wake Forest you'll see lots of $800,000 single family homes
subdivisions being built um that is way more expensive than many residents I would say most residence inam can afford it's not that it's not getting built it's the things it's it's worse than so I I hear my colleagues around that that feels really hard but that's also often our our practical reality and so I think um I want to hear your answer around the neighbor behind you though because that is important to me um so I'm sorry what was the the question so just so I'm concerned about the guy I I know you're saying it doesn't matter about the rezoning but you're here for rezoning so I'm going to ask you about your neighbor behind you um and is there a way to work with him around connectivity or not um I believe there is um so you can see on the development plan all that green area up
at the top that's right at the end of where Chadwick Road ends now um so if you just extend it straight from the the line of where it is you end up going through those Wetlands which is not something we want to do either um so we are trying to avoid that as much as possible but um we do think there's a way to to work with him um I would point out again that the the top lot you can see there right up at the corner um that is also one of his Lots so he owns that one in the four below it um so he does have have Road access on his northernmost lot uh and and he owns those contiguous Lots um but we we are going to work with him to see um what we can do I just talked to him on the phone earlier today and uh we are going to to try and get him a connection thank you that's it for now council member
Freeman thank you I had a couple questions for staff and one thing just jumped out at me I can see myself on a mirror sticking hand but uh one thing jumped out at me when we're talking about uh the landlocked area and that being okay in the 60s is there a plan around addressing this on a larger scale for properties we know unfortunately it's not basically it's um typically new development has to correct that situation okay and and to that point I think this is how we end up in these um very touchy situations around uh development I will say that I'm concerned that the the park is there a reason you're not including the park or can you explain why you're not including in the park I'm I I was confused about that comment too there was never a proposal to have a park as part of this project so I'm I'm
not sure where that's coming from so there's no open space there are open space yes available to folks in the community yes there are uh not as a public park as as part of the project just this open space on the project yes okay and so specifically it it may not necessarily have to be because it is in the wetlands a road uh for heavy traffic but it could be a trail that allows for a vehicle to come through I mean I think that these are um alternative ways to try and make sure that that that person that's landlocked is not I mean if it's just one property owner on those six Lots I mean I manage yeah we and we'd have to talk to Transportation about whether that's allowed too um and then on how small those roads can be but I I do want to Echo um my colleagues cook in and and um and Baker just in acknowledging like the threats are useless for me I could care
less what what you do with the land as long as it benefits the city um I'm I want to be very clear like Community benefits are the strongest part of this and if they're not going to benefit the city so if you're not offering a school a daycare center um even just commercial space for a market it doesn't necessarily have to be a supermarket it doesn't necessarily have to be a large commercial commercial um site but if you're not making something available that the community can use the benefits are low and so that makes me apprehensive on on resoning cases like these I I hear my colleagues on the you know concern about the 800,000 I don't have a concern about whether you're building 800,000 on septic and Sewer uh that's what you want to do with the land that's up to you for the record that we don't want to do that uh as want we're in good conversation because the community benefit should outweigh that concern around the wetlands and the two
uh storm water Crossings specifically are I really um I'm apprehensive on that side as well just acknowledging this is this is a site and an area where it's been this is not an independent development there's been so many developments that the water in that area in the creeks and the lake um are actually Orange and that is because of the triatic soil and so I heard you on you'll need to do the mass grading based on uh the townhouse or town home sites or assum essentially grading for the town home sites and because it's smaller 17 Acres I know it doesn't fall into the kind of um kind of grading tearing system that we created and so I would like to hear your plan around how you're going to keep that sediment if we did approve out of the
water hey good evening everybody I'm Tim gringer from bitman civil survey yeah we we've had discussions about um ways to protect the environment over Beyond than what the code requires currently um we talked about doing like just above treatment devices like double Sil fence um the city did make us extend those buffers from uh 50 ft to 100 feet to provide some some more buffering to the environmental features currently on the property um so yeah we're we're we're not opposed to going above and beyond to try to reduce sediment leaving the site and and getting into those environmental features by any means so and I appreciate that thank you if I can say one more thing on that um this uh resoning process has been going on for a while so at the beginning there were items that we offered as um commitments in terms of additional screening that through the the passage
of time eventually uh were added to the Udo and are now required everywhere um so we were trying to get out ahead of that and and it just ended up being um requirements for everybody thank you that's all I have for right now council member wrist have one question for the applicant so um I'm concerned about affordable housing um you've made significant Tex commitment since the Planning Commission heard this and I think it's like eight months ago it's been a long time um and so the the 8% affordable is a um is a as counil M Baker said is a is a we want to see up to that Target with new developments um can you say more about the price point I'm try want to understand this so you said 300,000 I mean of course that excludes the the units that are affordable right yes so is that like what are we talking low 300s like what is this a range or like what tell me more about the price point um so ultimately it'll be the market rate for what the market is at the time that they are built um and of course at this point
of the process you're looking at a year and a half two years before you're actually having homes for sale um but that is our analysis if they were built today um that's what we could build them for is 300 not 380 not 390 it's 300,000 that's that's all the units except the ones except for the uh dedicated affordable which of course will we last thank you thank you your honor and thank you colleagues for really excellent excellent questions and conversation um f first off I I want to call attention um to a fairly new attachment to our package and I want to commend the staff uh attachment O say comp plan consistency analysis um and what that is is a a graphic showing and to our friends um from the county I think this is really important um the the policies in the comp plan we just don't pick randomly and apply them to a project there are
specific relevant policies that are Tethered to the project depending upon the nature of the project and there's a really excellent listing of the relevant policies to this um development uh proposal and if if you use if you use a preponderance approach the majority of the policies they are in compliance or exceed if you use a strict approach then if there's two or three that they miss out of 13 you have to decide as the decision maker where you're going to come down if you're going to apply the strict approach good luck in maintaining Durham's dominance as the driving engine of our economic superiority um if you're going to use the preponderance approach well that it's over 90% um so I I I just want to put that out and thank the staff for uh using this I think it helps us keep Faith uh with the comprehensive plan that we attached uh that we passed uh not too long ago and how each leader employs it I think is going to be left up to each leader um I
do want to ask a couple of questions and and I had put a couple of queries to you about the um that strip of land when last we were together so thank you uh for clearing that up uh we also engaged a little bit on the garage and my my recollection is that part of the affordability was tied to not having garages and therefore being able to do more square footage and today you've represented that we may or may not have garages so I just want to yes so we let me finish my question I just want to be clear that that hasn't changed if garages are now negotiable how does that impact the representations that were made about affordability based upon square footage sign garages uh yes so that that commitment for no garages has been removed um so for each individual block of town homes or for each unit um you can either have a garage or you have more first floor
living space um so it it we don't know for sure um whether they will have garages or not there there also are considerations involving um the roads whether the public roads or private roads that that go into that as well because um if you have a garage you can count that as a parking space um if you don't then you have to have more parking right so you have to have more parking within the project um so our preference would still be um in most cases uh for the units not to have garages and and as as we said last time that does help to bring the the price points down and and uh as we've discussed we are trying to provide a product that's going to be uh reasonably priced and and lower than the average price for the city um but it is uh it's now not committed either way um so it'll be um as as we go so is a situation that
they all will or will not or some may and others won't yeah I believe it's kind of too early to tell I think um during our last meeting there was there was a plan not to um and I think that's kind of how that was um elaborated to you guys but now I feel like the developers come back and I mean it's it's open-ended at this point with garages or or or no garages so um Alles or yeah it's either going to be all or none so if that anwers your question but I don't think that's been quite yet determined at this point as to which route they're going to be all or none so but yeah it'll be one or the other got and to be clear if it's all that will include also the income restricted ones they will have garages as well that's correct all right um You you're you're a local outfit you say right how large how large would you characterize your group is being um so the the company is basically two guys um
and uh you know they're they're various contractors but the company is is Two Guys how many years you been doing this uh so just for a record not me I'm an attorney but right um your client yes my client um so they've been in business since 2010 um they built about 1,200 houses in that time okay I that that's all my questions I do want to say um uh I I've I've been threatened before I didn't hear a threat from you tonight what what I heard was and people watch our meetings and it's it's it's an interesting observation what I heard basically was you repeat back to us what's been coming from this day is from years it has been a routine question from Council Members to ask if we don't approve this development than what will go there and I think what we've heard is is folk are starting to to read our cards and read the green and are paring back to us what is routinely uh trumpeted from this deis reminding me of
what will happen when we we or I exercise my power as a matter of fact to me is not a threat um um you can't threaten me with what I already know um and can't threaten me with what actually is the actual case I think that it's important that when we say yes to something we say no to something else when we say no we say yes to something else that's just the the nature of this business and if if you know managing out comes for me I think large expensive single family homes on well and septic which is very unsanitary and brings with it his own environmental issu issues is less preferable than a multif family DSE unit plugged to state-of-the-art Water and Sewer um for me we can use this moment to send messages or we can take the opportunity to actually impact our environment and use this moment I send messages through resolutions when it comes to actually zoning issues this is where the rubber meets the road and where there are real world impacts um to
our environment to our citizenry uh to those who who uh look to us for leadership um I'm much like councilman M Baker I didn't know where I was going to vote on this issue uh at the beginning I'm a little more comfortable now listening to the responses looking at again this great attachment with the comp plan consistency analysis I take a preponderance approach rather then you you you you know and this kind of sounds like a threat if you don't come in at 100% of everything that the comp plan anticipates then you're going to get a know and I I think it's it could be argued that um it's felt a little threatening from what's coming from this day sometimes uh to folk which has very re very real world impacts policy impacts on our built environment and those who look to us for leadership so but I thank you all for really excellent observations and questions and comments thank you your honor I yeld back council member cook um I just want to address um some
concerns that I still have um and those are around of a few concern concerns um the first one is the access over the wetlands I'm not sure that I feel comfortable um with the environmental impact and I know that that was a main a major issue for the folks in the Planning Commission um the transportation is still something that I find to be concerning um and also this this price point issue which I have done a deep dive on to houses recently because I do feel like we hear a lot at this dis about um the pro Ed sale prices for tow houses um and I first of all have have seen what town houses are available that are new builds in that price point and there are not very many um and also I see that the market is much higher um and what that means to me is that even if you sell those at that price point there's no guarantee that they continue to be at that price point or that any Durham residents ever get to use them at that price point now on the other side of things we have a lot of
things that have been addressed that were major concerns for me coming in tonight um so I am actually going to make a motion and I'm not sure if this is in order but I'm going to try it anyway um to send it back to the commission for further review because we have all of these propers and these new commitments um we have a commission they are appointed both by the city and by the county um they there are 12 members and they voted there was 0o to 12 right no to yes or yes to NOS so not one single yes when it went through the commission um and this plan has changed a lot and um I believe that if we're going to sit here and appoint members to that commission then we need to respect the things that come out of that group um and again I know we've talked a lot about the comprehensive plan and how closely this aligns um it does seem that it's gotten closer to what we are hoping to see or what Durham is hoping to see in that comprehensive plan so it would be um my motion tonight to send this back to the commission to get an updated review given all of the changes that
have um been presented tonight if is appropriate and the chair is amable to that I would second point of order point of order yeah the the motion's not um appropriate it would be the first of the applicant excuse me I'm I'm stating my not doing that he can't rule on what hasn't been stated yet continue please one thank you Mr Mr Mayor point of order the the uh motion um my assessment is out of order because it is the applicant's prerogative uh to request that the case go back secondarily the planning commission is advisory they have no Authority whatsoever I think it would be a dangerous precedent to suggest that sending something back to the Planning Commission to see what they might say in light of proceedings before an actual um policy-making body is a precedent that um I don't think we want to set moreover we routinely vote down things that the Planning Commission said to vote for so if we're not sending them back if we're not voting for when they say yes then
what is the controversy in not voting for something or voting for something that they've said no to so I think the motion is out of order because it's the it's the applicant's prerogative thank you Mr mayor council member um Freeman thank you I I just want to make it very clear that there is different situations and there are different instances and cases and all the generalities in the world don't mean that we can't do what we need to do to make sure that the best outcomes come out for our residents in durm that's all council member uh excuse me council member cabier yeah I have a question for staff actually hi um didn't we put a limit on things around changes and if they did something if applicants did more than something or am I just wrong about that and then if right like we put a limitation on what they can change essentially right am I wrong on this good evening Sarah Young with the
51 A under action by the governing body um does say that follow number four following the public hearing the governing body May approve the request deny the request or send the request back to the Planning Commission for additional consideration thank you all right uh there is a motion on the floor at this time um I'm sorry I have a real quick question for the applicant how long have y all been in this process sorry it it matters
uh the initial application was submitted about two and a half years ago thank you um this is a question for staff I'm sorry Sarah thank you if if this is a big if on my if it does get kicked back to Planning Commission when could it be heard and then when could it get be back to us give me one quick second [Music] so at this rate it probably I'm looking at our internal super secret calendar um it probably would not make it back to Planning Commission till April and then normally there is at best case another six weeks before it gets so it may not get to you all till after your summer break that's what I was thank you so
basically we wouldn't hear it until August at is is what you're thinking based on what you all have okay thank you may question thank you U Mr Mayor thank you colleagues um to the applicant are are you interested in having this sent back to the Planning Commission so obviously it's the council's prerogative if if they choose to do that um we would say that the things that have changed in the plan are additional proffers they are not changed es to the plan or the location of of any um anything on the site um so we don't believe that there would be a benefit to doing that but certainly the the council can do uh has the authority to do what they want to do sure I I'll say finally that my reading of and I read all of the Planning Commission comments your Prof most of your propers were seemed to be in response to things that that planning Commissioners had written when they were against it some
time ago so the the I mean the record will reflect that you know you can just read what the Planning Commission the for example settling the matter with the strip of land you've done that um affordable housing you've Pro you've proferred income restricted housing I just want to the for the record for myself say that I am I don't want to in any way suggest to the public that I am in any way um granting Authority or or purview to an advisory body that simply does not exist and I want to Simply say I I do not want to communicate to the public that I I mean if the Planning Commission still send us a noback is the is the is the Durham city council the final Arbiter of City business suggesting that our votes are going to somehow be married to to Planning Commission um votes they certainly haven't been th far we we routinely vote no on things that the Planning Commission says yes to why aren't we sending those back so I just want to be very careful and and and and remind our colleagues that the planning
commission's role is advisory and that the things the profit that the uh applicant have made are almost directly reflective of what the Planning Commission has already said um I've got enough to vote on thank you Mr Mayor thank you and yes council member Baker We Still In discussion speak on the motion uh we're in discussion uh do you have a com specific okay okay um yeah there there's there was a second there was a motion uh by council member cook there was a second by council member Freeman uh this motion uh is uh wait a minute all right so this motion would be to refer the case back to the Planning Commission um it's been moved and properly seconded
um Madam clerk I'll ask you to open the vote ask you a close to vote please the motion passes 4 to three with council members Williams Middleton and cabayo voting no thank you so at this time you've heard the date the timeline um the case will we refer back to and just for clarity this is back to the Planning Commission or back to staff or for staff to bring that back to Planning Commission okay thank [Applause] you all right we'll take that one uh it seems quick and then we'll take a break after that okay all right the next uh
the next item that we have on the agenda is item 41 item 41 and that is Consolidated annexation 582 South Miami Boulevard multif family thank you mayor um Andy L with planning department uh this case was initially heard at the December 4th 2023 um city council meeting the city council opened the public hearing and heard the report from staff and the applicant the applicant requested a continuance to work through the impacts of the phase grading and tree preservation Amendment uh the case was heard at the January 2nd 2024 city council meeting and the applicant requested a second continuance the Public Public hearing is still open and item is before you uh for consideration thank you staff and the applicant are here for any questions all right this item is uh currently open uh from so this public he has been
has been previously opened you've heard the staff report and now I will hear from the applicant good evening mayor Williams mayor for Middleton members of council my name is B farmer yes how much time do you think you need five minutes all right five minutes it is madam clerk can you pleas s minutes on the U clock thank you my name is Marie fer I'm with Parker po 301 fil Street in Raleigh here on behalf of the applicant as uh staff mentioned last month we requested a continuance of this case to give the applicant an opportunity to meet with staff to discuss changes to the project to allow compliance with the new standards for tree coverage under the Udo we had a productive meeting with the planning director and staff last month and the applicant team has been working hard on A New Concept plan for the site that will allow compliance however this New Concept will result in a loss of
density and more layout and Architectural planning is needed to determine whether that density will decrease by more than 20% of what is currently requested because if it is below or above um that 20% Then it will ultimately require a rezoning under the EO so as such we are asking for this case to be referred back to staff for additional consideration and should this be uh granted it will provide the applicant an opportunity to revise the development plan as needed based on the New Concept and the new density and allow staff to opportunity to review those revisions before the case ultimately comes back here before the council and we have discussed this with staff and confirm that staff is agreeable to this request if council is to Grant it this evening thank you for your time and your consider ation and we're available for any questions you may have thank you I'm comfortable moving forward and referring back to staff right uh council
member cook I I hey thank you so much for coming tonight I just have a couple questions really quickly I know you talked about um density as one of the things that um you were discussing when this Pro um when this presentation was made in front of the commission I think there were a couple of other concerns um one about the lack of affordable housing that was proferred and and also um one about the um Crossing of South Miami Boulevard um given that there's going to be no sidewalk and there's no current crosswalk um and you've got Pro proposal for a lot of Housing and then on the other side of a very very busy street um all of the amenities uh which are a big selling point to the to the housing are are you looking at either one of those two things or seeking to look at any one of either of those two things yes absolutely so particularly with the affordable housing right now um as it is shown on the development plan we are requesting 540 units uh this was uh because we were initially planning a two-phase development with structured parking uh now we are looking at
potentially a one phase project we're still trying to incorporate that structured parking so depending on the density that we're able to do uh that will impact the affordable and that's something that we're certainly going to consider as the cases referred back to staff uh in terms of the sidewalk connection that is something that we have done um some Fair extensive work in looking at um some of the issues that we have uh run into is the topography there is pretty steep slopes there uh so in order to put a sidewalk uh running north um there are um some extreme challenges in addition uh you can see on the development plan the stream buffer also runs in that area so we would have to cross the stream and in addition to that there's also the Duke power easement that runs there as well and so there's um some challenges in terms of the control of the land running north um but we've had our traffic team uh at kimling horm looking at all of those things and it's something we're going to continue to eval evaluate but there are layers of challenges there thank you so
much mayor V thank you Mr Mayor I I'm supporting it going back to staff I do uh want to thank you for the diligence and and I think it's it's worth saying the Planning Commission actually recommended uh approval uh of your project so congratulations on that I hope you can improve the vote when you go back forward thank you yes uh colleagues any other comments are we okay with it going back thumbs up all right thank you for coming all right at this time we are going to um take a take a 10-minute break and we'll come back we'll take on one more development case and then we'll get to the final item so uh colleagues uh I'll see you back at
9:04 yeah the text yeah sorry Tex hopefully
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all right folks so we can all go ahead and have our seats we're trying to see if we can let more people inside but we need to know how many seats we have available so you can come on in and close the doors and I have a seat we need everyone to go ahead and have a seat we want to let more people in so I need to see how many seats I have Also earlier I mentioned there was one more case there are two more cases um but I don't foresee them being long I I I don't know jinx it try not to jinx
it all right thank you all so much for cooperating uh you can just go ahead and take your seats we'll uh want to be able to let more people inside we do have more folks outside all right let's get back to it glasses there we
42 Acres and located at 1339 and 1341 coill Road the current zoning is residential Suburban 20 uh the applicant proposes to change this designation to residential Suburban multif family with a textual development plan to allow for the construction up to 45 units uh the properties are currently designated apartment and townhouse neighborhood and Recreation in open space in the place type map uh the proposed rsmd zoning is consistent with the apartment townhouse and and Recreation Open Space Place type thank you staff and the applicant are
available for any questions all right you've heard the staff report I'm now going to declare this public hearing open first so there any questions for staff from our colleagues all right so at this time uh we will hear from proponents and opponents and I didn't ask this earlier but please uh if you will indicate your stance uh as you st your name so but first we'll hear from the applicant good evening good evening uh how much time do you think you need I believe five minutes should be good all right Madam clerk seven minutes please um good evening mayor Williams mayor protm Middleton city council thank you go uh thank you for the opportunity to allow us to be here tonight my name is Ramy gam I am uh I am with life long Investment Group my uh uh but really the group is just Matt yarboro and myself uh
4 acre parcel located at 1339 and 1341 coal Mill Road um it is currently zoned rs20 and we are requesting to rezone that to RSM with the textual development plan attached to allow for the development of up to 45 dwelling units the primary access for this development will be off of coal Mill Road directly adjacent from crosdale country club and golf course we are compliant with the Udo and comprehensive plan and consistent with the place type map which which shows a future apartment and town home neighborhood we did receive a favorable recommendation of approval at Planning
4 Acres however only three of those acres are actually usable given that there's Recreation Area stream and extreme setbacks open space as well as tree save with this smaller development envelope we feel Town Homes would be the most appropriate also if you zoom out just a little from this parcel you'll notice the predominantly single family detached housing types in the area which is why we have chosen Town Homes to likely be the highest and best option to meet that requirement with the place type map our group originally committed to a one-time contribution to the Durham public schools of $7,500 and a one-time contribution to the dedicated housing fund of $22,500
we spoke earlier and we took note from previous reone cases that were successful of this similar size and are glad to increase those donations by increasing the DPS donation to $12,500 and the affordable house housing donation to $27,500 I would also like to point out that in addition to the increased monetary profit we have excluded the option to develop apartments at this project based on valuable feedback from the two open Community meetings that we had the neighbors and Community felt that it would be a better development and better for property value to exclude apartments and therefore we have Incorporated that feedback into to our textual development plan and we are thankful for the Neighbors feedback I did want to take a quick moment to tell you about Matt and I Matt and I are lifelong durm Natives and
close friends and we still live in Durham today we're both born at Durham Regional Hospital not Duke Regional uh we attended the Durham public school system through high school where we were it culminated with us receiving our high school diploma from River Side High School class of I won't say we bring this project to you all where it's only a Stones throw away from where we grew up and where we currently live uh up until now Matt and his family own and operate a local warehousing and mobile storage company and for myself I a proud son of immigrant parents who came from came to durm from [Applause] Palestine thank you I currently work within our family business uh in our locally owned restaurants as well as with my wife in residential and Commercial Real Estate we both Matt and I are both proud to contribute to the local community and economy and we are
both long-standing employers here in Durham we saw a great opportunity here to keep our investments in town and contribute to the rapidly growing city that we love we think this is a great smallscale project that will add a lot of value and different housing types to an area that's predominantly single family detached uh thank you all for your consideration and for your support and we're here to answer any questions thank you thank you so much great to see you here and uh I now have oh there was another oh it'll be Vala welcome as you're approaching the podium please uh restate your name so I can ensure I'm pronouncing it right and
state whether you're a proponent or opponent you make go you have three minutes thank you H hello good evening I'm so sorry to interrupt but I will be The Interpreter Mr Mayor hello good evening I am asking if I'm going to have access from my construct from my from my property that they're going to do 600 feet from my property
and I will also have a comment that I have they have I have raised this comment several days ago I don't know who I raised this comment to I don't know how to say it but it's it was a petition for the street and pro for the property so I would like to make this petition public [Music] please I don't have access to the public bus service or to the trash service as well to the residue service I do not have access to this gracious thank you that would be all thank you so much one moment
please things are the same uh Flora can you hear me interpreter yes of course I can hear you yeah could you uh I just we just want to make sure that we are that we clearly understand what um the concern was could she could are you able to provide a synopsis yes um she uh commented that she has been complaining several days ago about a petition about a street access and she also has a concern that there's going to be a new development 600 feet from her property and she wants to know how is this going to affect access as well she does not have access to a public buses for kids or she doesn't have access to any residue service Public Public
Service okay so oh okay so some of that some of that is pertaining to the development and then some is more General she she's too far from the site to to get some of the things oh I see I see I see okay spoke with her the other day sorry Mr Mayor okay thank you all right um that is those are all of the speakers I have for this is there anything you need to respond to I me I unfortunately it's 600 ft from the project but if you like to no all right this is a public hearing and uh I have no more cards signed up for um colleagues uh at this time I will declare the public hearing closed and bring it back before the counil colleagues are there any
questions yes Council Freeman I just wanted to make sure that we have someone that's going to respond to I can't see where the young lady went director Young have you met the speaker that was [Music] speaking just to make sure she she does get a response yeah I met with her uh just before the meeting so I understand her concerns um and we I gave her my business card so we're going to connect um and and follow up and see what we can do and then just a note for the clerk uh it'll probably be helpful to pause the time when the translation is happening and I know I I text you I just want to make sure I state it publicly as well can I tell her that thank you yeah
okay okay see okay thank you so much um friends as you all are coming in please come over uh we do need to have everyone in a seat uh we have uh well where's the little baby okay so we have one over seat over here we have a few over here all right colleagues uh the case is back before us and I will declare this public hearing closed are there any uh questions council member cook oh I get the hot seat every time okay um good evening thank you so much for your presentation and um I just have a couple of things that um I think were raised um in the Planning Commission meeting and and I'm particularly concerned about the first is actually just a question um did did yall decide if this is going to be a rent or sale
property we it's going to be a for sale property all all will be for sale all for sale okay thank you um and then it I've been asking this question a lot but do you have an idea of the sizing as in terms of bedrooms and that sort of thing is to be honest with you we're just there was a uh the note from our Suds report which came in not too long ago that gave us a 45 unit maximum so laying it out with Steward engineering to understand if 45 is even close are we in the 30s what dimensions there rear yards and front yards we haven't gotten into that kind of preliminary layout to understand bedrooms size total square footage we did put forward some architectural textural development plans that would help break up the monotony and you know uh for right now we have included uh EV charging charging stations in the garages we know we want to have garages we want LED lights on all the roadways we feel like those are just great items to include anyway where
we might not know the product size or layout per se but we're it's all kind of an organic fluid situation as Matt and I uh meet with with the engineers to lay out more okay because I know at the beginning y'all had stated that it was going to be about 30 and then we had heard 40 and and now the textual um commitment say 40 40 maximum of 45 we just followed the suds so that we didn't show anybody we were going to exceed or go over to the allowable zoning which would give us like 77 so we wanted to scale that back so that 45 is the max that's what the suds report said but with that we know we want a for sale town home product and now we can kind of start that work uh ideally uh I don't I mean realistically I don't think we get close to 45 I think 30s is a good number considering there's only three acres of usable by the time you park it you have their stor warm water and open space and and uh recreational area and tree save
uh we added another profer in there off the property line with The Preserve so those sorts of things are really driving that envelope to be smaller um so that's kind of where it is now thank you um and and you've kind of touched on this a couple of times but I I just want to raise it again because um if anybody has walked erby Creek lately they can see that it is a disaster I mean is like looks like thi mud it looks like post rain at all times and um it hasn't been raining um and I know that y'all are located around the headwaters of erby Creek and and I know that you had done some work on that and I just wanted you to have an opportunity to say some more about absolutely yeah thanks for bringing that up we had a we had the opportunity to meet with the lb Creek Group on site we had about a 2-hour walk with Bist and other folks from that area uh they've changed leadership in that area um were working with Chris dreps now we've emailed Nicole from the lb Creek group but we've pretty much uh
spoke out loud and assured them that due to the low point of Where The Preserve is located there's also a neighbor um Eric Butters he spoke at Planning Commission we've met with all of those groups and we've kind of planned out not to have any development there a 100-year flood is already in that space so we can't develop that and we've committed to not developing that so I think um you know those conversations went very well this might be a testament to that um uh that we assured them and we added buffers off of the property line to show them we would not be building units in that space and the buffers that you're talking about do I are those in the textual commitments yeah there's an additional 10t buffer from the preserved property line and then the rest of the preserve for Eric Butters is in the hundred-year flood so we committed to not developing in and around that either okay thank you um and my other concern was traffic um I
know folks had raised that and and I'm going to say I think you're kind of alluding to it the folks that spoke at the commission are not here tonight um so I applaud you for um reaching out to your neighbors and and doing that work ahead of time but could you speak a little bit to those traffic issues I know there was some concern um that there's already uh quite a bit of speeding and that entry exit onto coal Mill at that area is is quite difficult already yeah I mean uh the good and bad the good is it's for it's already five Lanes right before the property so there's a dedicated left turn lane that stops right before where our parcel would begin uh the do has communicated to us and we're going to obviously follow their requirement that we would need to extend that Center turn lane through the entrance of the development so creating that five Lanes with the proper taper thereafter is going to be something that's going to be requ IR ired by the do thank you I don't have any further questions it's uh it was good to good to learn a little about bit about you I'm was also born at Durham Regional
hospital um just one question for you um we've been seeing a lot of developers um profer 10% of units for affordable housing just the 80% for 30 years um would you be interested in voluntarily offering that can you uh ask one more time I'm sorry uh we've been seeing a lot of Dev developers coming before us that have been profer um about 10% of the total residential units of uh the units that they are uh requesting for resoning um profing about 10% of those units for affordable units which is just by our city definition of the U 80% area median income for 30 years is that something you would be interested in voluntarily doing I believe we did speak about that while we were evaluating offering actual units versus the dollars and I think from a finan cial perspective it didn't really pan out on this Prof Forma with the size we also looked at a couple of recent rezones for example the one in December that's just a mile away on Rosa Sharon Road for the
46 Town Homes we followed kind of that similar uh formula if you will for for the dollars we feel like they would go a lot further than uh the 3 to 5% that was kind of shared with us by our Engineers uh 10% is is not a number that I I had been shared with before but uh we feel comfortable at this point to offer up the dollars that's just it's something we've evaluated before this moment okay I appreciate that it is it is a small site so thank you in this in this case um unlike many other cases that is uh I think it's reasonable thanks Council council member Freeman any comments all I'm sorry skip you go ahead thank you um can you explain to me really quickly how many apartments were going to be there in the original plan um the the the place type map shows
an additional parcel and a half to be included in that apartment town home map and I think it would have required more land at the time you would have had to surface Park two for one and I know the scad item has passed since and that has changed but it was beyond when we applied and had moved forward also we had two Community meetings and it was really important for us to be playing nice in our backyard and be proud of something and still shop at the Harris teer down the road so uh we didn't feel like it was appropriate to put Apartments there overall but um we we do love the site and we we hope it's going to turn out great thank thank you um I will be supporting this project um although it doesn't mean for me I hear you about the neighborhs I think that that's just the reality of of Durham is density um when you live in the third largest state in the two regions um the third fastest growing state in the um in the two regions that
are growing like 66% of all growth in North Carolina is in the triangle and it's in Charlotte and we are the third fastest growing State and that's not stopping and so I appreciate it but I think that that's going to be the hard conversations that we have to have with our community over around how is Durham going to look differently um I appreciate it even though it doesn't technically follow the the comp plan policies on some of this I mean I think that's where this this conversation um um to to the case before you know we can let the perfect be the enemy of the good around what we really want or we can say okay I understand why you made that decision so we'll be supporting the case um I am uh while I get why you removed the apartment it it it makes sense that we are thinking about um moving density where we need it thank you thank you Council Freeman say something uh thank you I will say that um my twins were born at um Regional as
well so I had the their care I I I will say that I do appreciate the the decrease in density acknowledging that this aever the sensitivity of the area with 100 you're flooding and with climate change and all the things that are going on you don't want to build in that and then have the residents that you've sold the housing to sinking or flooded out so I I understand why you're doing that and I I also appreciate that that you're including that the native trees be added to the site I hope more of our developers continue to do that it's important that we keep with our um what is native to Derm in the area and then uh I will say that I I am pretty supportive of this I have to say that uh coill Road has been hasn't been a very um active area for development and this seems to fit well I will note that the I appreciate the increased DPS um profer
and affordable housing profer and also the EV charging in the garages so other than that I think I'm good thank you thank you thank Mr Mayor I'll be brief um I think my my colleague stole all my thunder on this one um I appreciate your your presentation I appreciate your respect for the sensitive natural environment there around the headwaters of Elby Creek it's certainly an important Creek to a lot of folks in Durham and I do I I did notice the uh commitment to only using native trees for Street trees which I think is quite unique and I appreciate that so thank you thank you it's his fault I'm sorry thank you Mr Mayor um thanks uh for your presentation um I got to be honest this this is a a classic case of what we usually vote no on um but I think the hometown appeal uh may be serving you well um which I'm not mad at I'm not mad but I I do have a couple of questions has has the texal development plan been done yet it has and could you give us a little because there were some questions that the Planning Commission
raised particularly those who voted no about the lack of specificity and the absence of the textual development plan so would you kind of give us the readers Di digest highlights of the texal development plan now that is done it's been a long road U Matt and I have been doing our best to measure twice and cut once on this situation um to be very Frank uh this is our first larger scale development of this nature and we we partnered with some consultants and Engineers um that uh kind of uh made us feel like at the time I think it was called the future land use map was a straight RSM uh that was the designation um and then the place type map had been adopted through that timeline um we were under the oppression at the at the recommendation of our engineer that we could profer at the Planning Commission in the form of a textual development plan once we realized that that wasn't
allowed uh staff and planning were very nice to work with us and help us in still a textual development plan that we could understand and kind of squeeze the scope in response to the planning commission's comments and that's kind of where we are today my question is can you give me highlights of what's in it materials yeah absolutely anticipated price points um elevation stuff like that we have uh all housing types approved in the RSM except for apartments uh no development in the hundred-year flood plane as shown on the FMA map no more than 45 dwelling units uh the two Financial proffers that we spoke to earlier a minimum of a 10t wide tree preservation that'll be provided on the south property lines adjacent to the Elby Creek preserve for Town Home units uh no monotony essentially mixing up uh product and color and finish across every other building and across
streets new dwelling units to include EV Chargers and garages LED lights to be provided in all common areas and Street trees should be of native species as defined at in the Durham landscape manual sounds lovely what what are your anticipated price points if if I was to go uh on a price per square foot uh basis I think it would be at market rate mm in your community meetings were there residents of crosdale present there were did they say why they didn't want Apartments uh they did they they told us that it would not be perceived well in terms of traffic and a lot of people and uh what else man it's mostly the the neighbor the not Cale neighbor you would uh need to speak at you would need to speak at the mic if you were to speak as part of the applicant team it's mostly the the neighbors directly to the left and right that didn't want Apartments I did they
say why they don't want Apartments I don't remember why they said said they didn't know remember Apartments all right um did did the people present express any concern about the lack of affordable units from my memory not about the lack of affordability just asking if there would be affordable units and the answer was no to them the answer was we haven't determined yet okay um the I I um I'm generally U uh in in in in favor of this project but I I I do want to highlight that this is a very interesting case because no firm commitment I mean we appreciate the um the uh cash offers but as as council member Baker I think Appley observed we we've been getting used to actual units and percentages of and I understand it's a small lot but we've had small lots and folk still make those type of profits
I'm deeply concerned that there were going to be apartments and now there's not and the irony is that we usually like Community input and this is kind of but it depends upon the community you're getting the input from right um we like Community input but I find it interesting that based upon Community input we now are not getting a a dwelling type that generally we would smile upon uh as as a council in terms of mixture of units and affordability as well I'm glad to hear about ownership um but uh I just find I just find the evolution of this case very interesting I I just wanted to add it was it was a it was a tough situation just in general because we're in it we're in the backyard and the lby thing we were very lb Creek situation meeting with them and and and understanding the environmental impact you know when you think apartments and you consult it's just a lot more disturbance and uh a lot more parks and uh larger storm water and everything would get pushed a little bit
larger and I think that was a little intimidating to us and and I appreciate your sensitivity to environmental concerns but in reality uh none of your environmental things that you're doing to address the environment are extraordinary to other things we've seen we we've had other developers you who use native trees and our Udo by law by force of law provides significant protection to the environment um so we've had projects that have gone much further than this uh in terms of that so I want to and that's not no no no you know no disrespect but I I do just want to put in context this kind of you know going on about how great this project is and relative to other ones I mean I've seen projects with far more get voted no uh by this Council but I like the project and and I appreciate that you're homegrown um the hospital reference did not hurt um so and I appreciate the community uh input as well thank you Mr Mayor I'll yield back all right colleagues any other
comments all right thank you um thank you Mr ganam for um bringing this before the council um I I think it's very clear that I am very Pro housing I I understand the the economics around what's happening I I also understand um what's happening when our supply is extremely short uh I'm not one of those people that you know will make perfect the enemy of good I think we we naturally do that sometimes um so I I appreciate it uh I think part of some of the uh subtle contention that you're experiencing is not you but more so the behavior of us and uh so I I am I am going to um go ahead and bring the question uh well bring it back to the C Council but I do appreciate your project
um yeah thank you thank you Mr Mayor yes council member Freeman I just I just wanted to ask staff a question um this site is at I think someone stated I'm not sure who it was but at the head of el Creek does that feed into any water source that may be impacted by sediment in the same way that we've been talking about previously think I'll defer to director young with that one so I'll say that um I haven't like mapped out exactly where this Branch goes but um all of of our streams end up in a water source one place or another
um this will be subject to even though it's so small that it wouldn't be subject to the uh phase grading and tree preservation thresholds necessarily it will still be subject to that other text Amendment about erosion control measures so those most stringent erosion control measures would still apply yeah so the erosion control and this and just acknowledging the developer being amable to understanding the sensitivity of the Headway of the streams and where they end up I think makes this case a little bit different than others I hear um the point about the contention and I just want to make sure that I'm clear like it's not contention it's not a there are differences in every case and if you only allow for one rule for every situation that doesn't account for all of the different environmental topographic um elevation like all of those things matter in each case and so as folks come forward as developers when they are more accepting of folks in the
community's responses especially when it's about environmental sensitivity or even height elevation I think that that's important to acknowledge the difference and so that's why this is different I just wanted to make sure that I was clear on that thank you for me specifically I could not agree with you more I cannot agree with you more I'll go ahead and call for the motion um so this case requires the passing of two motions uh motion one to adopt an ordinance amending the unified development ordinance by taking property out of the residential Suburban 20 and establishing the same as residential Suburban multif family with the textual development plan moved is red it's been moved and properly seconded um Madame clerk please open the vote please close the vote the motion passes 70 thank you and motion two to adopt a consistency statement as required by
North Carolina General statute 160d d605 move to adopt consistency second it's been moved and second it mayor uh Madam CLK please open the vote please close the vote and the motion passes 70 thank you so much good to see you all right uh our next item item number 43 text Amendment remainder lot with tc2 23006 now hear from our staff good evening mayor mayor protm council members uh bod brinsky uh plan Department this text Amendment TC uh 23006 remainder lot withth is a privately initiated text amendment that proposes to amend the unified development Ordnance in order to allow a minimum lot width of 80 ft in the residential Suburban District
rs20 uh for the remaining standard lot after a flag lot is subdivided uh the width could be 80 ft sorry about that uh currently the remaining lot width would be required to be 100 ft uh all other dimensional requirements would remain the same uh lot area setbacks Etc uh the plan commission recommended approval on January 9th unanimously uh just a reminder uh two motions are required for this item one to approve the ordinance and another to approve the consistency statement uh staff's here for any questions thank you you've heard the staff report I am now going to declare this public hearing open colleagues are there any questions for staff all right now move to our applicants I have two people one moment do I have any let's see no no I have two uh signups here Keenan Kender and Patrick
biker how much time do you think you need just a minute all right Madame clerk two minutes uh so good evening mayor and members of the city council uh my name is Kenan cond from Morning Star Law Group at 700 West Main Street and while we're saying where we were born I I too was born at durm Regional hospital um we will not make this a standard of pass and resoning cases I'm here to speak in favor of the remainder lot with Amendment ultimately this is a proposal that adds a subtle increase in housing density in some of Durham's Suburban neighborhoods uh by making it simply easier to make flag Lots in many of Durham's old suburban neighborhoods uh properties are zoned rs20 and the lots have exactly 100 ft in width uh but the lots are actually many of them are deep and have a lot of acreage those currently underutilized and an example of this is the Spring Valley neighborhood in West Durham so the minimum lot width in the rs2 district is 100 ft so although there are
lots with enough square footage for multiple homes because of their width they are restricted and can only build one house uh this text amendment should be able to fix that ultimately this proposal will make flag lots easier and this provision will only apply in the rs20 district uh the reduction in the minimum lot width only applies when a flag lot is created and this change does not affect the other dimensional requirements of the rs20 district including the setbacks the height uh minimum lot size the square footage for a lot so overall this proposal is in the public interest and again it increases uh density in subtle ways in some of the areas in which we have not seen many changes so and I think that is why the Planning Commission overwhelmingly voted to recommend approval of this uh Udo txt Amendment so uh we respectfully ask for your recommendation of appr or for your approval and available to answer any questions they have thank you very much all
2 B of the unified development ordinance so moved second been moved and properly seconded Madam clerk please open the vote please close the
vote the motion passes 70 thank you and motion two to adopt a consistency statement as required by North Carina General statute 160 d-6 five so moved second and moved the probably second it Madam clerk please open the vote please close the vote and again the motion passes 70 all right thank you all right we have a lot of speakers up here okay so I'm going to um I'm going to do uh two minutes yeah I want to start with online
first all right uh next on the agenda is item 46 and ComEd the excitement all right item 46 and Madam clerk I am going to start with our online speakers I am going to I I got your message about the half uh 130 it's hard to do 130 so we'll do two minutes um per uh per speaker and we'll start with online all right this is item 46 to let's read it right resolution supporting an end to the balance between Israel and Palestine recording stopped one moment uh Council cook um I just want for clarity um since it has not been updated on the agenda that there is a different
title um on the latest version um and now reads resolution supporting a ceasefire and an end to violence between Israel in [Applause] Palestine all right and um we will we will go ahead and I'm going to I don't want to treat this agenda item any any uh different than any other one I want to make sure we are carrying it along respectfully as we always have so let's get started Madam clerk um mine just went out here no it just it just canceled out I'm back all right uh the first Speaker I have is um yo Tom Kahana y Tom can you hear
me and the hand is raised there can can you speak up for me can you hear me yes so you could just speak Clos closely into the mic you have two minutes thanks for joining us okay J city council have you follow me into Kamas rep can't you see that none of those events will ever happen if Kamas did not launch his V can you see the this part of Kamas strategy to sacrifice his own civilians to get your sympathy so many citizen of Gaza resident tell you and keep on screaming to you that Hamas got to be removed only last week Kamas turned down against another another ceasefire that Israel suggested Kamas also murdered a child this weekend that only try to get to humanitary Aid they they stole from Kamas also murdered their people shoot them alive how can gazin people and even Isis can condemn
Hamas but you can't how are you not mentioning Hamas even once in your resolution 1,000 community members B together to help you to write your resolution to support peace for Israelis and Palestinians by removing Hamas if you are in in insisting and persisting on this resolution do it right go ahead and condemn the one one organiz ation that made it all possible if you fail to do this you fa the Jewish the Muslim the Christian the Israeli the Palestinian and the community in North Carolina can you see that all of those people today the city hall cover their faces none of them send up of the national atom none of them have an American flag in their protest and yet you listen to them please guys we sent you email we keep on theising on this please except the
resolution that we sent to you one that not ignoring the main part of this one is Hamas thank you very much thank you next I have Katherine wolf okay I'll come back to you okay and I I fail to mentioned earlier there we did have people outside um what I'm going to do is when I get to the inperson speakers I'll call them in groups and if I call a person's name um and they do not respond in here I'll write that name down and have the clerk staff go outside uh to see if they're here okay uh next I have de Freedman hello can you hear me I can welcome you have two minutes
okay um it's not up to council to make foreign policy decisions based on the opinions of ceasefire activists who are a national security threat with the resolution today you'll be reopening Old Wounds from 2018 by Reviving Durham's notorious reputation for scapegoating Jews but it will be different this year because it's an election year and anti-Semitism is on on the radar so if you decide to appease ceasefire activists intent on cutting off any Escape Route for persecuted Jews then you should know it will energize the haters if you plate the bloodthirsty bullies blocking roads and targeting the Jewish Community you will undoubtedly make national news wasn't that the goal of certain council members just to be clear you are once again EXP exploiting the Jewish Community for anti-zionism
Israel is essential for Jewish survival so please don't listen to people engaged in the dehumanization of Jews 75 years later Israeli hostages give up their meager rations to the young and elderly just like Jews did during the Holocaust Hamas stifled the screams of a pregnant woman while cutting her stomach and killing her baby in front of her none none of this is normal 75 years after the Holocaust but if you appease the ceasefire activists in Durham you'll be normalizing Hamas and this will be a part of DM's permanent Legacy to the Jews thank you thank you very much um before I go to the next person before I go to the next person I I've said this before the last time I was hissing this time I we guys we just cannot we we cannot do the interrupt the interruptions you you I mean you can
feel the way you want to feel trust me there are going to be people excited about this there going to people upset about it but we're just we're just not going to do the interruption it is and and this is something that'll make everybody upset It's my prerogative whether we a lot 20 minutes per person or one minute per person and I want to make sure that we can get through to hear everybody but if I feel like this is going to get out of control I'll put a block here and a block here we'll discuss it and we'll move on and that's not what we deserve here that's not what this that's not what you deserve so I will not facilitate a disruptive room I just will not we don't have to go there so please I ask that you please please please have respect for one another the next uh person I have is Robert Goodman good Goodman Mr Mayor Mr Gutman is not in the queue Gutman
okay uh next I have Gregory kovski hi there welcome you have two minutes uh just want to make sure that I'm unmuted I can hear you you have two minutes you may begin okay H I'm Greg kosi both my parents are Holocaust Survivors dozens of my family perished last October 7th was a day straight out of Holocaust the number of Jews killed was typical for a holocaust day and so was the brutality children murdered in front of their parents young girls gang raped while their fingers were being cut off and their eyes gouged out gouged out Hamas animals recorded it live and streamed it you can find it easily next day Hamas promised to do it
all over again a thousandfold until no Jews are Left Alive anywhere in the world today you are asked to support those hellish murderers to keep them in power you have this if you have the slightest decency don't don't be confused when some Jews rights to speak on Hamas behalf Jewish traitors were joyfully helping Nazis hun down my parents and grandparents all small oppressed Nations have traitors who help their people's tormentors don't listen to Hamas supporters Jewish or Gentile reject the genocidal resolution thank you Mr kov kovski next I have Marcy
Goldstein hi can you hear me I can welcome you have two minutes thank you so much I am speaking against the divisive resolution brought by people who Mis frame the conflict as violence between Israel and Palestine this conflict is between human beings not places on one hand Israelis and Palestinians and on the other hand Hamas a genocidal regime whose Charter calls on Muslims to quote fight Jews and kill them end quote if you must take a stand on an international conflict about which you are not expert instead pass this new resolution supporting peace for Israelis and Palestinians by removing Hamas which accumulated 1,000 signatures on a petition this
week the bad faith resolution conspicuously does not name Hamas it urges the Biden Administration to end violence ironically stripping agency from Palestinian perpetrators of violence it states quote Terror was perpetrated against civilians in Israel end quote but by whom Hamas murdered mutilated gang raped and burned alive Israeli civilians including babies and Holocaust Survivors believe the disowned son of a Hamas founder who says that Hamas quote needs to be removed from power end quote they aim to annihilate Israel and Jews worldwide and in his words quote opened the Gates of Hell on Palestinian people end quote believe Gins who testify
against Hamas brutality believe Imam Onley who won the Green thank you Miss Goin that that is time the next speaker I have is Leslie St Dre oh Leslie I'll come back to you you in person da Hodson hosman hi can you hear me I can loud and clear you have two minutes thanks for joining us thank you so much hi my name is Daniel Holzman I'm a Durham native I'm also born at Durham Regional uh a member of Jewish voice peace and a new mother I'm speaking today in support of a ceasefire resolution um I named my daughter after her great-grandmother my Bobby a proud and politically active Jewish woman who strongly believed that all of our struggles were intertwined
she believed in the idea that none of us were free until all of us were free and fought for workers and civil rights for her whole life for my bubby her activism was integrally tied to her Judaism tuna Lum was the way in which she interacted with the world my bubby passed a little while ago and now one of the favorite parts of my day is when I get to feed her names sake before bed every night I think many new parents will understand when I say that this quiet time with just the two of us me holding her small and fragile and perfect little body is a deeply powerful and beautiful experience every night when I hold my daughter I think about how my family's trauma how my community's trauma has been used to justify the brutal murder of thousands upon thousands of other perfect children just like her I think about how my tax dollars have been used to support a government that has willfully cut off food to a starving people leading to the fastest growing famine the world food program has ever seen about how my government issues platitudes while sending billions of dollars to reain yet
more weapons Upon A traumatized people and about how my bubby would have felt hearing the same genocidal language that killed her family members now being used to demonize and kill thousands of innocent people I know that one city council resolution will not be able to Halt the genocide taking place in Gaza but I urge my city council to vote Yes on a ceasefire and to join in a long-standing Jewish tradition of tun Alum of attempting to the best of our ability to repair the world thank you thank you the next speaker I have is swali senuta oh you're in person okay I I'll come back to you
okay all right next I have uh jelin St Dre all right I see y'all are just thorough I saw South here south Hurley yep all right and that's all I have in person I mean uh online you see sign that was for the other case got yeah all rest of the speakers are for development cases all right uh now we will move to in person and I will call by fives first person I have is Eric Johnson followed by Libby
Johnson Amy Rosenthal Katherine wolf and Alissa Roth welcome you have two minutes each and I just want to make sure everyone's name I called is here okay all right sounds good I'm Eric Johnson a presbyterian Minister and member of voices for justice in Palestine I live in uh with my wife living in less than three months I would turn 80 years old and I struggle to Fathom the anguish of my aging 80y old Palestinian brothers
and sisters who have lived more than 75 years of their lives under the merciless unbroken continuing of aart system their memories are seared with the murder of family members and neighbors hosale contempt for human right international criminal environmental law all the while being expelled from their land and seeking seeing their dwelling in thousand year old uh Olive Tree destroyed only to experience another nakba the ruination of Kaza into a place of UT Des olation I'm thinking about the children for each Palestinian child including sixy old in job blessed be her holy name I'm thinking about them that had been murdered since October 7th
2023 to this day we could have a funeral every week for 7 days each each week for the next 27 years and place a stone upon their dve site e Stone amplifying the the Cries From Gaza this truth does not count the children who are still buried under the rebel the number of children in Gaza has already been confirmed it's over 13,000 13,000 Stone crying out thank you Mr Johnson thank you Amy Rosenthal Amy Rosenthal yes you have two minutes thank you okay thank you the Hamas supporters here tonight know that they can't directly change foreign policy but what they can do is f
hate hatred of Israel and that is hatred of Jews they eagerly and thoughtless LLY embrace the anti-israel propaganda pervasive in media and Academia this is another blame the Jews situation even though Hamas is entirely responsible for what's going on Jews know what happens when campaigns of Lies Target us violence and real actual genocide the council may not feel the hate against our minority group in this room but we do the cfia scar you see here tonight are the new Nazi swastikas Rabbi Jonathan saak spoke about the Perils of hate when it goes unchecked he said quote one of the enduring facts of history is that most anti-semites do not think of themselves as anti-semites we don't hate Jews they said in the Middle Ages just their religion we don't hate Jews they said in
the 19th century just their race we don't hate Jews they say now just their nation state Israel anti-Semitism is the hardest of hatreds to defeat because like a virus it mutates you have the power to stop the hate here please don't let the new Nazis bully you do not feed the anti-semitic blame the Jews mob by signing this or any resolution regarding Israel thank you thank you next we have Katherine wolf Katherine wolf your so-called ceasefire resolution is a blood liel that israeli's hunger for Palestinian blood it is the shameful work of a city council puffed up by American privilege and Western arrogance using city government to whip up more Jew hatred is one of a Thousand Cuts to derms Jews we
know this resolution is a done deal so I won't waste another breath on the complicit Durham Council except to request that you have Durham police officers escort us to our cars again as the mob has again amassed outside instead I address am yriel in posterity a few of us fought the good fight here tonight on our behalf and on yours we fought because Jews also have a right to live free of persecution we fought because we love America we fought because we didn't want you to have to wander in search of another Shady Tree we fought and we will likely lose but we know that civilizations that drive out their Jews perish out of those ashes we always rise so to you my beautiful
brilliant brave people of the future wherever you are I know you are bringing in the light I'm Israel High the people of Israel live good night thank you I have uh Elisa Ro next hello uh my name is Alisa rth and I'm a resident of Durham an anti-zionist Jew and a member of Jewish voice for peace I grew up on the Texas Mexico border um and every single day I lived there I drove along a highway that ran next to different iterations of a tall iron border fence that was surveilled 24/7 by cops border patrol and video cameras this kind of environment seeped into every aspect of life on the border it tainted all of our culture and all of our history a militarized border tore families apart and embedded an intense vigilance into my community every time I return I'm
filled with a sense of stress and worry that I never realized was there until I moved away this is only a fraction not even a fraction of the experience of Palestinians living through a genocide in front of our eyes communities are being torn apart not just by walls and surveillance but by death and destruction every day for the past four months and much longer before that this is why I am speaking today in support of a ceasefire resolution although I understand what being from a border means I cannot comprehend the ongoing Terror in Palestine I'm proud to be an anti-zionist Jew calling for ceasefire and I'm proud of Durham for a clear support of an immediate ceasefire sorry thank you the next uh speakers I have Sandra Korn Kevin georgees Vicky Vicky Ryder or rides rder Ryder okay Emerson
Goin and da wait I think these are oh no da hzman she signed up on both it was it was both she was online yeah oh okay gotcha gotcha right let's see okay she was yeah how does okay hello I'm Sandra K um here as a member of Jewish voice for peace triangle to speak in favor of the ceasefire resolution 100 years ago my ancestors fleeing anti-semitic violence in Eastern Europe came to the United States because they believed that Jewish life could Thrive anywhere in the world where Jewish people are safe Ive moved to Durham 10 years ago because as a queer person and as a Jew I knew that this city was a place I could feel safe and even in the face of resurging white supremacy in this country I'm so proud
of the ways that our community and our city have come together to work to keep all of our people safe my faith tradition teaches that every single life is precious and that all people deserve to be safe nothing about Israel's actions towards Palestinians is making Jewish people safer it's increasingly clear that Israel's 76 years of occupation is unsafe for Israelis and for Palestinians alike and the genocide that is being committed right now in Gaza the 13,000 children and infants killed is a horror not like anything else I've witnessed in my entire life what makes all this worse is I know that the genocide is being funded by our tax dollars and that many well-meaning people support Israel because they think that doing so means supporting Jews those of us in Jewish voice for peace in a Rising growing movement of Jewish people who stand in solidarity with Palestine say not in my name luckily the tide is Shifting more and more City
councils more and more members of Congress are calling for a ceasefire for everyone for everyone for an end to our money going to arm a genocide I'm so proud that Durham will now join these ranks thank you to the city council members who've taken an incredible amount of time to hear our stories and to engage with our community I urge you to vote a unanimous yes on this resolution thank you welcome Mr georgees you have two minutes good evening uh my name is Kevin Georges I'm a pastor at Jubilee Baptist church and I'm the grandson of Vita and the great-grandson of Baro and Hannah who as Jews living in CCO Poland had to flee the Nazis genocide when my grandmother was just a toddler now as I see the images of displaced Palestinian children wandering through the rubble of their homes or lying forever still under winding sheets knowing that there are thousands more just like them I can't help but think of
my grandmother and now my own two young children and I feel in my bones that no child should have to go through that kind of Devastation ever anywhere uh so I want to commend you all for taking up a resolution calling for ceasefire and thank you for being in conversation with us and listening to our stories and our concerns uh though I would agree with some of the other speakers I imagine we'll hear from tonight that we can and should speak in stronger terms about what's happening uh I understand that for some in this room tonight critiquing Israel and using the language of genocide to do so is fraught with the fear of either perpetrating or suffering from anti-Semitism I acknowledge and I hear and I understand those fears and the traumatic legacies that they come from but the Machinery of warfare will never keep any marginalized people safe to borrow phrase from audre Lord in our own context the Master's tools cannot dismantle the Master's house and
let me just say that as someone who has now spent two decades in the context of various Christian denominations I can promise you that support for the nation of Israel does not necessarily mean that a people are not being anti-semitic the American Military industrial complex does not care about Jewish people that is not what it is designed to do it wants to instrumentalize the memory of the Holocaust and the idea of protecting quote unquote democracy to fill its own coffers and it will happily offer Palestinian blood as a sacrifice to that cause so as you vote tonight I ask you do so not out of fear but out of conscience thank you thank you next I have Vicky [Applause] Ryder and uh Miss Vick it's the handwriting is a little hard for me to read if you can pronounce your name so I can make sure I get it right ryer like the rer okay got r y d r thank you you have two minutes uh I've come to address you again because I found the last city
council session to be frighteningly unsettling and it left me wondering how we might ever become a con a cohesive Community again what had me especially rattled with the unexpected attacks on those of us who wanted to see an end to genocide in Gaza we were characterized as a mob and vilified for asking that our city speak out in the face of the massive Slaughter of Innocents there those who screamed so loudly into the mic never mentioned the apartheid conditions endured by the Palestinians for the past 75 years maybe they hadn't learned of the recessive conditions imposed upon them by the Israeli government since being displaced from their homes in 194 4748 and I can't fault them for that here in the US we never learned in school about the Wilmington or the Tulsa mass massacr in our own country so I understand I didn't come last time to get into a shouting
match with my neighbors I shared my concerns as a Jew and as a grandmother and I expressed my hope that this Council would join with the other 70 US cities who've signed a resolution calling for an urgent and immediate ceasefire to present the killing of even one more baby some other mother's child as a conflict management specialist with many years of practice as a professional mediator I've learned that compromises are halfway measures that leave no one happy and that when lives hang in the balance compromise is not enough dead is dead so I thank the council for attempting to craft a compromise resolution um and I hope that the original demands can be retained and a resolution passed before another day passes and another baby dies thank you very much this is for the babies in Gaza thank you so much thank you next I have Emerson Emerson
gy and after her I have da Holtzman I think da already spoke she on Zoom oh that's right yeah great welcome you have two minutes thank you um my name is Emerson Goldstein and I've been a resident of Durham for six years a member of Jewish voice for peace for nearly a decade and I'm a proud anti-zionist Jew I actually moved to Durham in 2018 uh because of the Brave victory that was won at city council where Durham became the first city in the country to end police exchanges with the Israeli military that's why I'm here today and why Durham is home for me and today I'm speaking in support of the ceasefire resolution a resolution which affirms the reasons that I moved to Durham all those years ago affirms that our city is one that prioritizes justice peace and the sanctity of human life I urge you to vote Yes today and I want to thank our city council for taking the time to listen to our stories over these many months for so many of us especially as Jewish people who know that never again means never again for anyone watching a
genocide unfold has been truly agonizing but we know that there is no military solution here we need to address the root causes of violence Israeli military occupation and apartheid and our own government's role in funding this oppression I and all members of jvp firmly believe that Jews like all people have the right to live with safety and dignity but we will never endorse a verion of that safety that requires the dispossession and destruction of another group of people especially as a Jewish resident of Durham I'm proud of our city for taking a stand for cease Fair tonight I hope as thousands continue to face famine starvation displacement and death the stakes could not be higher or more clear thank you for your votes in favor of this resolution thank you so much next I have Leslie St Dre Jin St Dre Laura Gibney itai Corman and queenny Sanchez
Lopez welcome you have two minutes thank you I'm Leslie St Dre a Durham resident and member of Mother's rece fire um my testimony today is in honor of 3-year-old Imad Abu ala I'd like to show you a picture this is Imad Imad was shot by Israeli snipers alongside his cousin when they went out to get Clementine's imad's F favorite fruit to today the Clementine is our symbol for Imad and all Palestinians whose lives were stolen by us Israeli genocide airs along with their homes land crops and access to food medicine and other necessities that any of us would need to survive I'm grateful to be here today with a powerful Coalition who's brought
us all to this moment um we thank you for addressing our PRI priority agenda item and the world's priority agenda item I want to note however that this is day 136 of the genocide we're here to demand that you include language that meets this historic moment that we're in with Israel creating the worst civilian death toll this Century please pass the Amendments given to you all and submitted to the clerk or which will be submitted to the clerk by Durham for free Palestine today there are no two sides to to genocide there's no balance to strike when an open air prison is being built as we speak in Egypt to Corral the millions of Palestinians being ethically cleansed from Gaza last week Joe Biden said our military operation in Rafa during a press conference at the White House this was no slip this is indeed what's happening it's a US Israeli Annihilation if we're going to address
the root problem of these Horrors we need to stop Zionism thank you so much Mr for Imad welcome you have two minutes you I want to begin by just pointing to the irony of us sitting here and listening to three hours of conversations about property and home and development and profit when the people of Palestine are having their homes destroyed and their land taken from them my name is Jaylen St Dre I am a licensed marriage and family therapist and I am a trauma specialist and I have worked with many people that have endured extreme abuse and torture including Asylum Seekers and I'm here today because I want to speak about a particular Nuance of this of this ask we're making of you to pass a ceasefire resolution specifically with the language endorsed by Durham for a free
Palestine peer reviewed sociology and psychology Studies have pointed to the impact that one single person or single environment one single Community Center or one city can make on a person's ability to weather trauma we have the opportunity to be that place not only for the Palestinian constituents of Durham but for those in our neighboring cities and for this country at large and for Palestine in general as we we are watching the videos that are coming out of Palestine we are seeing people like journalists bisan asking where are you world how are you letting this happen why aren't you listening there is no one past date no October 7th that we can point to in retrospect because the genocide of Palestinian people is ongoing today for the past 136 days and under occupation for the past 75 years and through it
Palestinians are organizing together to come and ask you as our city council to pass a resolution that will tell the people of palestin Palestine now and in the future that Durham saw listened and took action further it will assure the Palestinian constituents of Durham that we stand with them and we will not be silent this than you so much for your time offer safy thank you thank you next I have Laura Gibney welcome minutes is Laura Gibney and I'm a long-term resident of Durham first I want to thank you for drafting the ceasefire resolution I appreciate it but I feel it's imperative that it call for a permanent ceasefire as the Chicago city council resolution did given that an impermanent ceasefire could simply mean a pause in violence while Israeli hostages are fear are freed once they are freed a temporary Sears fire I fear
epic violence will be Unleashed on Gaza given what we have seen in the past four and a half months and given the clear Ambitions by Israel for a Gaza without gazans I think my fears are well founded and any call for a ceasefire is undermined if on a daily basis the US continues to send military hardware for Israel to use in the genocide according to the Wall Street Journal since last October the US has sent 21,000 bombs and Rockets to Israel and has plans to send many more there should be no more military aid to Israel in the absence of a permanent ceasefire the reason we come to you our city council is because you are our most accessible elected representatives and we ask you to pass a strong meaningful ful ceasefire resolution as more and more City
councils do so the message to DC lawmakers and to the world is Amplified it shouldn't be hard as a large majority of Americans support it and I think our own moral compass should guide us I give my words today for all the children who've been killed while seeking food or water for their family for all the children who have been killed because their father or mother a doctor was targeted for providing healthare thank you thank you it's I Corman welcome you have two minutes thank you hello Council I'm e Corman I'm a Durham resident I'm I'm an Israeli American and I urge city council to amend the language of the resolution that we have submitted to include language of genocide and no more military aid to Israel my paternal grandfather was 11 years old when his entire family except for him and his mother were murdered in
a pgam in Poland my maternal grandparents barely escaped being sent to aitz by fleeing Bulgaria both sets of grandparents fled to what was Palestine that then became occupied Palestine now known as Israel my grandparents were escaping oppression but then became oppressors their generation committed the nakba in 1948 which was deliberate ethnic cleansing of Palestine my parents both completed mandatory service in the IDF they each moved to the US after their service because they were so disturbed by Israel's oppressive treatment of Palestinians and they did not want any part of it I was born in the US because they did not want their child to be part of the military the US is not only complicit in Israel's continued oppression of Palestine which has now become a full-blown genocide but the US is actively supporting it through Federal funding and verbal affirmation I'm looking to
you our Durham elected officials to stand for justice and human rights we are calling on you to make sure that Durham stands against genocide and demand that Congress members stop funding it thank you so much to all of you for meeting with us and taking the time to listen to us thank you thank you next I have Quinny Sanchez Lopez and as she's coming up uh it will be Julie gr njer Julia Springer Mitchell Pinsky Lauren kabaki and Josh ravage good evening thank you for allowing us to EXP express our deep condolences for so many that have lost their lives so many innocent
lives that deserve to be here um I'm Mexican and this 2023 was the first time that I made an altar in memory of um da of the Dead um it felt like the only tangible way that I could really somehow mourn the death of so many children who just wanted a clementine or a loaf of bread or clean water or a warm place to sleep or a place that wasn't full of Screams and bombs I grew up with the golden rule to treat others as I'd want to be treated and I know that if I was in place of Gins I'd want someone to defend me from the obliteration of my home and the threat of danger to me and my loved ones the inhumane treatment of Palestinians must be condemned and it must be stopped aside from the over 29,000 people which is about the size of
Sanford North Carolina whose lives have been taken families and individuals are being starved and resorting to eating animal feed due to the Israeli government's blocking of humanitarian Aid not to mention the 300% increase in miscarriage rates in Gaza since October seventh as someone who is a social worker who is in public health who cares about Health Equity this is important not just because it's something to stand for it's the IT thing right now it's because people's lives are on the line and so the US funding of this genocide will not only have long-term Ram ramifications on our moral standing on a local and national scale but we are being deliberately complicit thank you so and it's going to impact our political economic standing on a global scale for decades to come thank you Miss
Lopez good evening Council and as others have echoed thank you so much for hearing our stories tonight um my name is Julie gra Nar I have lived or worked in Durham for almost 10 years um I was not born at Durham Regional hospital um but I was born in a hospital where my mother had access to medications anesthetics pain relief um Medical Care and a hospital that was not actively being shelled um and so I want to note that this conversation around uh durh Regional Hospital while very cute um is is very it says something when we're talking about hospitals in a flippit sense when there are over 30 hospitals that have been bombed or besieged in Gaza at this point I am an Arab American French Canadian mom of two I'm the descendant of Arab Christian survivors of the
Armenian Genocide on one side and on the other side a descendant of my great uncle who was held in awit for years for his role in the French Resistance to Nazi Terror many of you sitting here today will hear the words French Resistance and think wow what a hero you also might think that you would have been part of the French Resistance to the Nazis had you been there and I want you to sit with that reaction and truly ask yourself what would you have done would you have had the moral courage to do anything at all many of us are here today because we have the moral courage to call a genocide a genocide as it's unfolding rather than decades later I'm here today four months into this genocide to ask that the Durham city council in the strongest terms pass a ceasefire resolution to tell the world that we Durham are part of the resistance against the Israeli genocide of Gaza we will not sit by in flid neutrality while an estimated 29,000 Palestinians including over 13,000
children are bombed with our tax dollars this is genocide thank you Julia Springer thank you welcome you have two minutes good evening mayor Williams and city council member I'm here as a Durham resident and a member of Jewish voice for peace I encourage you all to vote Yes on the ceasefire resolution before you tonight this powerful resolution makes it clear that the city of Durham will not stand idly by while Israel commits a genocide against the Palestinian people that we need a permanent ceasefire now an end to our tax dollars being used to fund this horrific regime and an end to the brutal occupation of Palestine as a Jewish person I was taught that Israel would keep me and my people's safe that it was the only way we could guarantee the Holocaust would never happen again that we needed Israel strong and armed to protect us this was all a lie if my safety requires the violent theft of another's Homeland the
unrelenting oppression of Palestinians and the mass murder of innocent people then it is not safety at all Palestinians deserve the entire world screeching to a halt disrupted in every May way imaginable and at their backs as they fight for freedom and safety we need an immediate and permanent ceasefire an end to the US funding of Israel and a massive influx of humanitarian Aid and this could not be more urgent I am grateful to all of you for taking the time to listen to your constituents bring forth this resolution and to the people power who made this happen thanks to you Durham can take a bold step to ensure that never again means never again for anyone thank you thanks so much next I have Mitchell Pinsky no he's not here apparently is he is there Mitchell Pinsky here I'm Josh ravit uh Lauren
kabaki Josh ravit Josh ravit okay okay when we were led into the gas Chambers the world said nothing when we were forcibly converted or murdered the world said nothing when we were expelled from countries just for being Jews the world said nothing when we now defend ourselves from future October 7th massacres suddenly you have something to say how did we take our revenge on the Germans for their final solution and the Spanish for their Inquisition how did we take revenge when Islam labeled us as Jimmy an inferior cast of people including Christians stole our property and exiled the million Jews from Muslim countries in North Africa and Middle East we studied Torah we innovated in medicine defense Systems Technology and agriculture we made music we made the Desert Bloom we won no Bell prizes we fulfilled the word of God by becoming a
light unto the Nations so when you criticize us for defending our heritage in our ancestral Homeland we Jews do what you did we ignore you you Pro to us for the last 2,000 years that when the chips are down you don't care so leave us alone Durham and go sort out your backyard issues like schools in chaos development woes Public Safety fears while we continue our 5,784 year old Mission enhancing the world we share Isel the Jewish people live thank you next I have Brad young Deborah Freeman is it a frean or frean yeah else frean or Freeman else okay so I have Deborah Freeman uh Lorraine mean or
Mian Andrew Gluck and leor Hansen H okay Madame clerk I have a deor fredman and a deor Freeman are those two separate people or the same personman is still online that's a different person right deor fredman spoke this is Deborah Freedman Mr Mayor there was a Deborah fredman f r i e d m right she spoke earlier she spoke earlier I just need to clarify if we have a Deborah Freeman is there deor deor Freeman f r m an now this is this is for this case yeah let's just make sure we're not overlooking
anyone for these okay thank you Madame clerk also please see your email all right I have Brad young are you Brad young all right thank you and I have [Music] Lorraine Andrew Leo or liar okay Madam um attorney would you please take this one with you don't run your knee Nina Jeffress the address okay let's go you have two minutes sorry thank just don't want to miss anyone I'm Brad young I'm a 12year Durham resident and I'm an Israeli American I'm active in multiple Palestinian Israeli Peace organizations and I do stand firmly for Palestinian statehood as part of a two-state solution since since October 7th most of
my time has been advocating for hostage release and ceasefire with all that um this draft resolution scares me and it scares me because once you've moved beyond the empathy of recognizing the pain in all of our communities and calling for specific resolution action you cement a counterproductive message and mayor Williams you explained here in this forum previously that this is a statement of community beliefs as there's no specific budget or operational activity uh that to debate around it and as a statement of beliefs all that matters is the message that goes out to the public and no matter how carefully you invest in trying to write a document that sounds like it may be evenhanded the message that it's going to be going out with all of your writing skills is going to be um Durham is calling out Israel you all know that uh and the subhead or the subtext of that message is that it's going to be in
response to vocal demands that are peppered with words like genocide and colonialism and are rif with denial of what actually happened on October 7th and with forgetting of all of the attempts at peace that have been made over many many years all of this is strategically questioning Israel's right to exist and demonizing our community that's the message that you are delivering with this resolution no matter how much you invested in trying to keep it sounding like it's evenhanded maybe that message that you're delivering it's intentional maybe it's accidental the mind-boggling absence of the word Hamas in this draft hints that intentionality H to my Palestinian neighbors and friends I mourn for every loss and I want to see the end and I'm calling on my government to end this war I hope that you can be calling to release our hostages and cease the thank you Miss thank you welcome you have two minutes
Lorraine Manan okay Council you are entitled to your own opinion but you're not entitled to your own facts and you've heard the facts often enough In This Very Room the fact that Hamas broke the ceasefire that was in place October 6th and boasted about it the fact that international law recognizes Israel's right to self-defense the fact that the 1998 Hamas Covenant vows to destroy Israel that Hamas uses their own people as human Shields resulting in thousands of deaths Council you've been played played by those who deny the facts Who hide behind words such as decolonization aparte disproportionate retaliation to the point that you did not even include the name Hamas in this resolution how is this carrying out your oath to fairly and impartially perform the duties of your office will will you vote for a resolution based on lies
supporting the genocide of Israel appeasing a small number of Voters because you want to be reelected or will you do the right thing and take the moral High ground and vote no based upon the truth based upon facts after all you are entitled to your own opinion but you're not entitled to your own facts thank you thank you Mr GL my question to ask all of you up here why are we here only reason for you is to Pander the anti- sentiment semitism to hate speech to lies to certain constitu who want to see Israel destroyed and Jews slaughtered some of the lies I've heard in the last few weeks from the terrorist supporters have been that Israelites killed anywhere from 23,000 to 1 million they can't even get their lies straight you have absolutely no power in international law but you have already shown in 2018 that Durham is at the anti-semitic capital of
North Carolina the only reason for you to vote for the ceasefire resolution is continue the reputation of hate the city has people who are embarrassed and ashamed of what they stand for hide their faces behind masks let me add Jewish voice for peace has nothing to do with Judaism or is it peaceful I noticed that not one person mentioned the tens of thousands of rockets Hamas has fired into Israel why is that because they support it the lies Spoken Here by terrorist supporters are just that lies are Nothing but Extreme anti-Semitism by the way there's never been a country called Palestine you have Palestine never been any country named that they didn't exist Palestinians did not exist until 1964 learn your facts before you put something up there it's an unknown place you cannot find it on the map now it never existed next I have Nina
3 million in taxes annually to the Israeli military by virtue of being in the state and living in durh we are contributing to the unjust taking of Palestinian life while our national government has yet to act I'm hopeful that my city will genocide cannot be a just Pursuit please do not forget that the international course of justice found it plausible
that the acts of the Israeli government could amount to genocide in 2017 Human Rights Watch published a piece documenting 50 years of abuses against Palestinians ranging from Secret but equal policies with regard to travel marriage and property to war crimes like targeting civilian structures this resolution is powerful in it of itself and I'm proud of my city but it does not go far enough I urge you to be brave to use your power to call for an end to us providing weapons to the Israeli government lift The Siege on Gaza and allow immediate and sufficient humanitarian Aid to enter call for the end of genocide those speaking in opposition may say that we are Fanning the Flames of hate but this is not true in fact it's the opposite we are here inspired by love we love all people and want all to be free from Terror and to be equal under the law our hearts cry in anguish as we watch from thousands of miles away as blood soot stained children search in vain for parents under mountains of rubble as rescued crying babies arrive in hospitals un accompanied sick and utterly alone and his families watch their loved ones die on Hospital floors with no supplies to ease their cries of pain the diversity in this room and of this Coalition is a
testament to the love we are connected by thank you for your consideration that's all next I have Elizabeth Johnson Tom gofman Kaufman Seth Hurley Tyler Benjamin and Raven Smith May Pro him you can assume the G please state your name Elizabeth Johnson okay start here you have two minutes thank you hello and peace to you my my name is Elizabeth Johnson and I'm a Durham resident and a member of menite action menites have been present in Israel and Palestine for over 60 years as disaster relief workers and invited
peacemakers as a Christian and a pacifist I condemn anti-Semitism and islamophobia and the Christian ideologies that have fed them I was horrified by the violence on October 7th and the spiraling violence that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since I'm also horrified by the Decades of State violence directed at Palestinians that created the conditions for the present situation to occur this conflict did not begin on October 7th and it's impossible to understand without considering the Decades of blockades occupation and apartheid that preceded it I'm devastated and angry that my government is using my tax dollars to fund Israel's bloody and disproportionate retribution we should not be providing unconditional funding to a country actively under investigating under investigation for perpetrating genocide in violation of international law every day that this violence continues threatens the lives of of the 2 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip almost half of whom are children and the over 100 Israeli hostages who remain in captivity each of these lives is unique precious and irreplaceable their safety
and flourishing will only come from a lasting peace that begins with Justice and Liberation I'm here tonight to call for my city to pass a strong resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire and an end to the genocide Durham has been a leader in this before such as when we became the first city in the US to ban police exchanges with Israel we can be leader in this again this is not the time to mince our words by for example rightly naming the plight of the Israeli hostages in the proposed resolution yet failing to specifically acknowledge the thousands of Palestinians held hostage in Israeli detention for no crime other than being Palestinian this includes my pastor's personal friend anas abuur who directs the youth center in Ida refugee camp and has been detained by Israel for months without charge or trial while his infant baby grows up without a dad this is the time for us to stand up and say loud Johnson thank you so much for being with us stand against these abuses thank you for being with us tonight Madam clerk his honor is off the podium would you please note that I'm
assuming to gavl till he returns Tom Kaufman Tom Kaufman all right Seth Hurley Seth thank you so much for being with us you have two minutes thank you hi my name is Seth Hurley and I'm here today not as a representative of any particular organization but rather as a concerned citizen as I'm sure you all know I'm a high school senior at the Durham School of the Arts and have lived my whole life in Durham on my mom's side I'm a fifth generation immigrant meaning that my great great Jewish grandparents came to America during the 20th century Jewish diaspora this holds great importance to me and to this discussion we're having here today this is because my grandparents were able to come to America of their own free will they will to they were able to leave Eastern Europe and travel all the way across the world to America the Palestinian people are not able to do the same they do not have the basic human right that is self-determination today these same people who do not have the right to self-determination are being executed by the tens of thousands there are no words
to describe the horror and pain being wrought by by Israel and American Arms Israel has been found using white phosphorus bombs manufactured here in America these are absolutely horrific devices which release a chemical that auto ignites on contact with air and sticks to its targets like a leech could stick to you or me the use of white phosphorus on or near civilian populations is not only moral but illegal under International humanitarian law yet we for some reason as a city have not made a stand against it or the tens of thousands of other war crimes which Israel has committed in the past four months not to mention the past four decades and Beyond Israel has continued to show contempt of the international court of justice by defying orders to immediately cease their killings of civilians the United States has continued to show contempt for Every Other Nation around the world by vetoing an International resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire so that the American military industrial complex can continue making billions of dollars every single year from the death and destruction caused by War and we as dermit have continued to show our contempt of humanity our contempt of what is right and what is
just in this world our contempt of doing what we can do to help the P Palestinian people by not having already passed this resolution months ago today dur needs to adopt the ceasefire resolution Pro proposed by council member cook to show that we stand with the innocent lives of civilians who have been mared day in and day out thank you so much thank you so much for being with us Tyler Benjamin thank you so much for being with us sir you have two minutes thank you before I begin I'd just like to note um I've been told that there are some speakers who are still outside the chamber who not uh able to be who not being welcomed it or not able to get in and I was just wanted to make sure that that's still part of the plan you have you have two minutes we're aware of the you have two minutes I don't want to cut into your time sure thank you my name is Tyler Benjamin and I'm a resident of Durham a clinical social worker and a Jewish anti-zionist and member of Jewish voice for peace I'm here today to urge the council to pass a ceasefire resolution as the first step
toward a world without blockade aparte and occupation in Palestine as a clinical social worker I see individuals mental health as both contributing to and resulting from connections to family community institutions and syst sys I'm absolutely destroyed when I imagine the possible post-traumatic realities of not hundreds but likely thousands possibly tens of thousands of pal of Palestinians who may be the only ones with their family name Left Alive Now on the face of this planet and this has me thinking about my family a great deal my own great-grandmother was one of six born in Jerusalem to Jews fleeing pams in Russia between 1900 and 1910 at a time when Jews around the world were not only deep ly skeptical of establishing a Jewish State through Conquest in Palestine that only protected Jews but were also in well documented cases explicitly opposed to that kind of state and organized by the tens of thousands to make their opposition known my journey to uncover and reckon
with my family's history has only deepened my conviction that Palestine must be free that we are witnessing only the latest wave of genocide against Palestinians living under Israeli occupation I reject with my whole whole being and as many of my ancestors as I can muster the false notion that ethnic cleansing of Palestinians ever did and ever will lead to Jewish safety that's why I say not in my name and urge this city council to join us in demanding that Congress and President Biden do whatever is within their power right now to prevent the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank thank you thank you so much I um SW sonali s s s you still here there you go all right I'll go ahead and call you up and also um Madame Clark do you have Robert Gutman back hey was
emailing Mr Mayor Mr Gutman is not online all right and I have Raven Smith there you go thank you hi my name is Raven Smith and and I'm a resident of Durham for almost 3 years um before I start my prepared remarks I just want to say that I'm it's lovely to see all these folks here and support of this resolution um thank you for speaking up I know it's not easy and I also want to say as a librarian um that it's really important that we all get our facts straight um so always double check your facts you can be for cause and have the wrong facts so um and the last thing I want to say real fast is that um I I know this isn't always mentioned but my heartbreaks for all innocent people who were killed in this conflict both Israeli and Palestinian and I don't think that it makes anyone safer since I am a librarian I know that one way to better understand the horrors of our world is through literature in the third book of The Hunger Games entitled mocking J author Suzanne Collins narrates a story of war and Trauma and hope Through The Eyes of a teenage girl named Katniss everine in
the aftermath of War Katniss remarks I no longer feel allegiance to these monsters called human beings despite being one myself because something is significantly wrong with a creature that sacrifices its children's lives to settle its differences you can spend it any way you like but in the end who does it benefit no one the truth is it benefits no one to live in a world where these things happen The Hunger Games is considered dystopian yet I find myself relating to the words on the page as they match the images on my screen entire City's being leveled much like District 12 children killed and those who run to save them bomb much like six-year-old hin rajab who was trapped alone in a car with her dead relatives she was murdered and the two Medics who ran to save her were murdered as well Collins wrote The Hunger Games after flipping between channels showing reality TV and War I feel the same scrolling on social media watching my one-year-old nephew stuff raspberries in his mouth watching toddlers sitting with gaunt eyes and hungry bellies that will carry the despair of starvation for the rest of their lives if they make it to two watching videos of empty bombed out schools homes mock churches libraries
places of retuse once gone in an instant we have the opportunity to do something another quote from aing J what we need is a Danny line in the spring the bright yellow means rebirth instead of D so much thank you free Palestine uh as Miss uh I'm just going to call the next five names so we can get ready uh Elise Crystal Anna Duncan Noah ran blows Victor Gua and Nicole droplock thank you welcome you have two minutes I'm charali singup and thank you so much Durham city council for letting us speak and share this process with you I was born and raised in North Carolina I earned my PhD from Duke University and I want to say I absolutely love Durham Durham is my home um and before I start I want to dedicate this Clementine to a
young lady named Iman she was murdered on November 11th in kazza Holocaust Survivor Ellie wiel and the author of night wrote I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation we must take sides neutrality helps the oppressor never the victim silence encourages the Tormentor never the tormented as a child I remember reading night in Anne Frank's diary it devastated in me I spent weeks crying afterwards I always wondered if someone read her diary while it was happen happening would the world have saved her would we have stood up and said this is genocide and it must stop or would we have waited years for to to write it down in history and look back and ask herself were we on the right side of it with the power of social media we are reading the Diaries of husbands every night and each day our us leaders remain silent we are witnessing
a genocide unfold on our phones every night and we need to call it for what it is a genocide I did not have to but I live in Durham because I believe in this community Durham is one of the most culturally diverse areas in the South we are also one of the most educated cities in the nation and we lead the nation in many fields while Raleigh and Chapel Hill remain silent I urge the city council to continue to be leaders in this nation and be amongst the cities to pass a strongly worded resolution calling out for the genocide of Palestinians calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and ending military aid to Israeli forces none of us are free until Palestine is free thank you so I I really hate to do this I ask you guys I ask you all to stand up and get in line but I do have to take a break sorry I have to take a break a 10-minute break we uh have services that are being provided uh online to be
m. m on Zoom not on theist I've sent another inv we'll see what happens anyway we have a bunch of people that are stuck outside and they won't up in and it's in violation law the security
gov
SL [Music] careers I came to the city looking for a new challenge in my career I stayed for the growth opportunities work life balance and impact my work has on the community the city of Durham where careers meet Community to connect with a career that serves the bu City visit Durham and C . goov /c [Music] [Music] careers
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[Music] durc did you know the city of Durham has interpretation and translation services available the city adopted a language access plan to provide language services and help non-english speakers have access to city services and programs without a language barrier through the city's language access plan residents have the right to request interpretation and translation services free of charge receive translation of vital documents and emergency communications in Spanish and submit complaints of language discription mination or on the failure to adequately provide services in accordance with the city's language access plan policy for more information
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[Music] owning a home provides a sense of financial stability family community and pride but housing prices are now higher than ever making it hard for many Durham residents to afford their first home that's why the city of Durham is offering the down payment assistance program to support eligible individuals with up to $80,000 in 0% interest forgivable loans to purchase a house within the city limits visit this site or call to find out if you qualify for the
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get in [Music] somehow all right everyone please have a seat appreciate it [Music] though if you will please uh have your seat please if you will please have a seat
if you will please have a seat we need to get the meeting back started all right Elise welcome you have two minutes now everyone as you're finding your seat just please keep it down as we're moving so the speakers can be heard thank you so much you may begin you have two minutes thank you hi I'm Elise Crystal I'm a 24e resident of Durham and I am I'm sorry just one moment Y what what's your name Elise Crystal oh okay gotcha gotta sorry I thought I read wrong okay um and I am a Jew I'm part of an ancient Community culture and tradition that pre-exists the state of Israel by thousands of years my jewishness does not rely on Israel what I would like to do is ask you what it is you need to hear to be persuaded to pass a permanent and immediate
ceasefire resolution one that condemns genocide and ethnic cleansing do we need to hear about the little girl who watched her parents an infant brother die in the bombing and then underwent a surgical amputation without anesthesia do we need to list the environmental consequences of this war and the devastation wrought by four months and Counting of unending bombardment and the use of chemical weapons do we need to see more images of dead bodies in white body bags of all shapes and sizes and watch their loved ones weep and whail over them I can explain our complicity in this brutal dehumanizing criminal Enterprise r that we are underwriting the bombing of hospitals and schools electricity and water turned on and off by the whim of the Israeli
government shall we cite International and human rights law I can yell and scream and weep about the cruelty of forc displacement ethnic cleansing and Israel's plan to steal even more territory from the indigenous population and I can tell you how heartbroken I am because Palestinians are eating grass because I understand that the atrocities committed in my name thank you will lead to generations of traumatized people thank you so much Anna Duncan good evening mayor Williams council members and my fellow Durham friends neighbors and residents uh my name is Anna Duncan I'm a Durham resident I'm a mother of two young kids who are amazing and incredible so sorry so that mic is really sensitive so the folks that are listening online probably
hear more about you moving it and you what you're saying how's that there you go yeah all right okay um I'm a durm resident I'm a mother of two young kids who are amazing and incredible and no more deserving of a safe and loving home and food and water and all of the things that every child in Gaza and Palestine deserves today as well um I'm also a member of the community group mothers for ceasefire here in Durham and I'm here tonight to urge the council to be courageous and pass a strong resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and an end to US military aid to Israel I'm proud to live in a city that has been a national leader for social racial and economic Justice and today is a moment when we need Durham to take a clear stance for justice once again as a mother I have been devastated by the indiscriminate killing of almost 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza and the
3 million of our tax dollars from durum are going to Israel's military annually plus 91 million from across North Carolina thank you I call on members of
the council to pass a strong ceasefire resolution an end to military aid and an end to the siege to allow humanitarian Aid in up next we have Noah Ruben blow good evening I am student Rabbi Noah Ruben blo I am a lifelong durite and I am the student Rabbi of mome our anti-zionist and queer Le synagogue here in Durham I'm here to say ceasefire now and the genocide in our time against the Palestinian people uh no more US military aid to Israel and I'm going to read a poem um by Puerto Rican Jewish poet orora 11 Morales it's called summons last night I dreamed 10,000 grandmothers from the 1200 corners of the earth walked out into the Gap one breath deep between the bullet and the flesh between the bomb
and the family they told me we cannot wait for governments there are no peacekeepers boarding planes there are no leaders who dare to say every life is precious so it will have to be us they said we will cup our hands around each heart we will sing the Earth's song the song of water a song so beautiful that Vengeance will turn to weeping that mourners will Embrace and grief replace every impulse toward harm 10,000 is not enough they said so we have sent this dream like a flock of doves into the sleep of the world wake up put on your shoes you who are reading this I am bringing bandages and a bag of scented guavas from my trees I think I remember the tune meet me at the corner let's
go thank you so much next I have Victor Kisa yeah Victor Kisa Kiza thank you you have two minutes yeah thank you um I was going to write something up but I guess I'll just speak from the heart um I just want to start by saying I'm not Palestinian I'm not Arab I'm a proud Mexican but I know the question of Palestinian Liberation is a question of human Liberation and that's why it's concerning and disturbing that has taken over form months for the city council to finally finally pass a seat fire resolution hopefully and I don't understand why haven't y'all been jumping at every opportunity every chance to speak out against this genocide y'all come on please how much more do we have to beg you have to come here every single week I'm looking at y'all yeah yo y I'm tired of you too so I can see yall tired too but you know who's so tired the people in Gaza they haven't had a night's sleep for the last 4 months and they just want this to end
and y'all can do something do something the bare minimum to maybe push this to towards the end and I beg for y'all to do it for please for the people of goel for people of the world to do it pass the ceas fire resolution pass language that's based in reality addresses genocide please and can we stop giving can we address Zionism as a fascist ideology and stop giving them a platform please why are we giving a platform to fascists all right cease fire now free Palestine thank you [Applause] could you pronounce your name for me to make sure I get it right drop look okay thank you my name is Nicole I'm a Durham resident a behavior healthcare worker and a member of the PSL I am here to urge the city council to pass a strong ceasefire resolution grounded in our reality the reality that over 100,000 Palestinians have been murdered or injured the reality that 500,000 are awaiting their death due to
starvation and disease the reality that there are zero functioning hospitals in Gaza as a result of Israel's bombardment that's genocide the reality is that a blatant genocide and we're is happening and we're watching it happen at our fingertips while I appreciate the council's efforts to propose a ceasefire I condemn that it fails to use a language of permanence or genocide or Collective punishment or ethnic cleansing any of the above it fails to do any of it a ceasefire resolution is merely a first step we understand that you do not have a direct influence on Federal tax money allocation but we call on you as our most accessible representatives to use your leverage as council members to demand Congress to stop using our tax dollars on genocide and ethnic cleansing because the reality is that the people of our city are struggling struggling to pay rent struggling to Fe their fam struggling to survive do your duty as our supposed representatives and public servants of the people of Durham and urge the investment into resources that alleviate violence and improve the lives of the people you serve food Healthcare housing mental health support youth programs sufficient public transportation we need
it urge the divestment from war and occupation abroad that prevents us at home from accessing the resources we need it blows my mind to think that our tax dollars fund Healthcare and subsidized housing in Israel but somehow there is never enough money at home there is always enough money for war abroad but there's never enough money for us here at home that doesn't make sense to me with the remainder of my time I would like to praise those of us who have continued to stand on the right side of history and remain dedicated to a world free of imperialis and occupation the fight is only beginning the ceasefire is our first step we're just beginning thank [Applause] you all right I have next uh Carmen gutterz Abraham jiri Carly
m. tonight in person um and online earlier today then then I just want to make sure that we are sticking to this process not only for tonight but for just consistency and so I if I'm if you're emailing if you can hear me online I am responding to you uh am forwarding it to the clerk to verify registration okay thank you uh Carmen [Music] right hello my name is Carmen I'm here
to make a brief comment it has now been 136 days of escalated violence and unimaginable brutality against the people of Palestine at the hands of Israel backed by money and support from the United States over 30,000 innocent Palestinians have been violently murdered tens of thousands more more have been injured or disabled everyone in Gaza and all of occupied Palestine are hurt suffering starving and barely surviving from moment to moment politicians at every level of government are complicit including all of you you are all democratically elected officials as such you should know well that is the absolute bare minimum expectation that the political power you all have should be used to stand for Humanity Injustice the ongoing genocide in Gaza is an absolute human catastrophe and
this is an understatement to support a permanent ceasefire is a completely uncomplicated decision killing innocent people is always wrong we cannot ignore this catastrophe further we cannot ignore the way our tax dollars are being used to violently Massacre tens of thousands of innocent people when will it be enough what will compel you to do the bare minimum show us today that all of you as elected officials stand strongly and courageously against Palestine I'm sorry genocide that you stand with Palestinians that you stand with all Arabs that you stand with all indigenous people with all oppressed people or show us that you stand with genocide and Global White Supremacy thank you Al Abraham
Jeri dermit mayor and council members my name is Ibrahim I'm a resident here for the past nine years lived in Michigan as you can tell this kuia does not represent whatever that person said um those little waves they're the waves of the sea and on the back it's a net it's a fishing net they use but unfortunately Palestinians don't have access to this sea that's been controlled by Israel I am a Palestinian who lost his parents' land from violent settlers mainly from Eastern Europe between 1948 and 1967 I'm not a Hamas this is not about Hamas and it never was Jews Christians and Muslim lived in Palestine for hundreds of years until vicious Zionist
from Eastern Europe took over our land my family got kicked to Jordan they can no longer go back they can no longer go back to their own home we lost over than 100 acres where settlements and Israeli Farms are built on right now as we speak those are lands under our names and we will never um give them up we had deals to sell we will never sell our lands three of my cousins were shot and killed this year in the West Bank my cousin Ronda Aaj was killed on her way to the hospital to deliver a baby and this happened I believe at the end of October I asked for my city tax money that comes to yearly $4 million not to be to not to be sent to kill my people instead please invest in our mental health issues here with our students with our local
people thank you so [Applause] much col odano sorry what's your name ji Khan okay all so all everyone is inside the building now I just want to um make sure I don't I don't U miss these names Carley odono are you in here and Alex tryo or TR [Music] okay okay Madam clerk these two names can we just check to make sure they're in the lobby um Charlie odono and Alex tro all right you may uh you may resume two minutes thank you my name is Jan Khan I am a resident of Durham and I support the ceasefire resolution but let
me add some context Durham was the first US city to end police exchanges with Israel I am proud of this we were ahead but let's look at the situation with this genocide now 48 City councils have called for a ceasefire and Durham is late I know there are procedures but regardless of the reasons this delay is shameful let's not add shame to this delay by neglecting to call for an end to us Aid and arms to Israel not just the Netanyahu government because I guarantee you there's a score of genocidal politicians eager to replace him immediately let's not add shame to this delay by neglecting to call for an end to the occupation of Palestine and for the release of all hostages especially Palestinian adults and children detained mistreated and tortured by Israel long before October 7th let's not add shame to this delay by
neglecting to call a genocide a genocide and so I demand you pass this ceasefire resolution and adopt the Amendments submitted by Durham for a free pal Palestine many of which I just listed let's not play Both Sides with genocide and do not listen to those who want to make this about Hamas and not genocide as if Israel didn't support Hamas in the first place check the nyt and uh check the intercept their reports on that my ancestors also survived a genocide against bengalis by Pakistan which the US also supported because my ancestors survived I am here to say a firm and resounding no to us sponsored genocide yet again and I know for a fact that many of you have ancestors who have survived genocide thank you very much lessons that are all too common let no one use past genocides to justify this one thank
you so my final uh for carts I have I just have Sophia I'm not sure what the Sophia Okay Sophia and student Rabbi Eli dit swali I have you uh unless there's another swali in the room okay all right gotcha and uh Robert Wilkinson Robert Wilkinson and just for the rec just for uh clarification Madam clerk I can be heard in the lobby is that right okay Matt um Robert Wilkinson if you're in the lobby please step into the chambers welcome two minutes hello my name is Sophia RAB and I am an adab resident of Durham and a student organizer I want to briefly tell the tragic story of hi Raja her and her six residents relatives were fleeing Gaza
City Israeli military targeted her and her family shooting at their car her entire family was massacred right before her very eyes imagine a six-year-old child experiencing such trauma the Lone Survivor she managed to call for help on the phone with a Red Cross in dispatcher she states the isra an Israeli tank was so close she was mortified scared she's be she's begging for the woman on the phone she begs I'm scared please come come take me please will you come she stays on the line for 3 hours an ambulance was dispatched and notified the Israeli military in an attempt to guarantee a safe passage and rescue of this young girl it was reported that the ambulance was being targeted by Israeli gunfire it wasn't until two weeks later that the Palestinian red crescent found the remains of the ambulance and the raja's car all had been killed by Israeli fire the family's vehicle had its Windows blown out and the door covered with bullet holes the red curent ambulance was found a few feet away completely destroyed by his in Israeli missile
resulting in the death of two ambulance workers this is just one of countless stories of Palestinians have been experiencing in Gaza I'm here to demand you adopt the amendment submitted by the Durham for free Palestine we and we and dur have the opportunity to push the US towards an immediate impermanent ceasefire and the end of us Aid of the Israeli Colonial project this is money that we could use the money that we sent to the aparte state could be used to support our own Community here in Durham better wages better INF structure better education for our youth better living conditions for everyone here in Durham this is for a better future for children and all people both here and abroad in Palestine free Palestine and Sho we see Liberation in our lifetime thank you thank you and welcome you have two minutes good evening I'm student Rabbi Eli DT and I'm here with hundreds of Durham's Community who are here to say Durham is for a free Palestine permanent
5 million people are stuck in Rafa being threatened with a ground Invasion when I as a Jew as a leader of the Jewish people say never again for everyone it is not in spite of what I know of my Jewish people's longing for safety it is because of it is that not the longing of all people this is all connected we here in
Durham are telling you that what you do with this resolution and with our tax dollars paying for bombs to rain down on Gaza that is not the durum we want to live in how can we trust you with our children if that is where our money is going we are looking to you to have the moral courage to speak truth to power to allow Durham to be an example of a community that says no to State sanctioned violence for anyone ever this is a genocide please just tell people that they know it's a genocide being carried out by Imperial Powers who recognize the worth of no human being over profit there is no military solution to that thank you so much
M qu there were two individuals uh who were trying to get on that we ever work that out one was um Robert Gutman and the other Alexandra Alexandra Oaken I don't see either one in the queue Mr Mayor okay thank you so much it's um thank you thank you everyone who has come tonight who have come tonight and shared um shared your your solidarity um on both sides of this issue um at this time I will that those are the cards all the speakers that I have uh and I'm going to now bring this back before my colleagues
uh Madam clerk was we we received several cards I'm sure after s were there what I'm addressing are the ones that were before s was that one before s okay yeah uh colleagues I'm going to bring you back before the council now and I will follow my theme route here so I'll start with council member cook um as the author I'm going to wave my right to go first council member Baker thank you yes this is um I want to thank everyone for pushing us um I think that we we should have done this earlier um I want to there are a lot of people who are in the room who are outside who are
watching at home who have been deeply engaged in in this matter uh who have participated um who have written us um uh I want to speak to to you all but I also want to speak to people who have not been deeply engaged in this matter and perhaps have not been paying close attention um and explain some reasons why I do believe we should pass a ceasefire resolution here in Durham um because there are so many people who are struggling in our own City who are wondering why they're opening up uh you know YouTube and and pulling this up and and wondering why we're talking about this and I I want to talk about the reasons why um and I have a list here um so I'm going to run on the list uh the the first one and and some folks here tonight have already have already spoken to some of these issues the first one is because of the scale of of the
atrocity here um we've already heard numbers but I think it's it's worth repeating over 29 you know um hundreds killed on October 7th since October 7th over 29,000 uh Palestinians killed 70,000 wounded 80% % 80% of the population of Gaza has been displaced and I think it's important to name that because um because the scale is worth addressing in the in the little city of of Durham North Carolina second because there's urgency to this moment um there are hostages uh hostages that need to be released and that includes uh hostages in in Gaza that includes hostages uh Palestinian hostages and and other people who are being unjustly held uh in Israeli prisons and bombing that needs to to end
um uh hostages who are who are facing appalling conditions um Palestinians who are facing famine um disease and and much more the Associated Press reported just today that a quarter of the population of of Gaza is starving that's the Associated Press um number three is because of the role of our country specifically um we spend more on our military than uh the 10 subsequent largest militaries in the world combined um we have an obligation there to keep up with to understand to interrogate and to participate in world affairs at all levels as individuals and at local government and in fact we have a duty uh to engage in understanding them and in weighing in on them we need to do this um and I personally believe
that we need to take every opportunity that that is presented to us uh to speak out against our bloated military industri industrial complex um and fight for reducing it fight against that military indust mil military industrial complex again according to the associated press the majority of the bombs that have been dropped in Gaza have been us made number four uh because this doesn't take anything away from the extensive time that we commit to issues of uh direct City uh government related issues um we spend hours and hours in in budget meetings uh we talk about um sediment in our streams uh we talk about people who feel unsafe in our own streets we talk about resoning cases this has not taken away from any of that um we are here late tonight uh we just would have had a shorter meeting otherwise um we are we are deeply committed to all issues uh and we find
that this one is related uh number five we are a global neighbor Durham is a global neighbor we are all Global neighbors now more than ever um we have a sister cities program here in durm and if you go to Durham Central Park you'll see um a little street sign that points in all directions because we have a sister cities in Costa Rica and in Mexico and in Greece and in Tanzania uh and we have that program because we recognize that we are uh Global neighbors just as uh Raleigh is a neighbor of ours just as uh Chapel Hill is a neighbor of ours number six because uh of you all because our constituents uh and the people we represent are calling for it um we've heard from folks on on with many different viewpoints on this issue um but we have witnessed far greater levels of community and Civic engagement uh over the past uh couple months um than
on many many other issues and in many ways I think people um some folks have even discovered local government and city government through this issue and by coming by coming here number seven um because and this was mentioned by several speakers because our state and federal governments let's be honest they're oligarchical um they work for the the richest and for corporations and they don't represent the interests of ordinary people uh but local government with all of the flaws that we have at local at the local government level with all the flaws that we have at city council um we are deeply imperfect but we are far more democratic we are far more inclusive and we are far more representative of the con constituents uh that that we represent um and so we actually listen to people when when they come to us um and I don't think that we can say the same in fact I know we can't say the same for our state government who chooses their own constituents and for our federal federal
government number eight uh we are there there is a vote taking place across this country um and that's just the reality of where we are um several speakers have noted that other cities have already voted for ceasefire resolutions we are not stepping out alone this is a process now we are adding our little voice to a growing collection of voices and other cities across the country um we are not just speaking individually this is a vote that we are casting and we hope that by us voting we are also encouraging other uh municipalities uh to to vote as well and add their vote uh into this process uh number nine because unions around the country are calling for a ceasefire and we must support and show solidarity with organized labor the United Auto Workers SEIU uh the American Federation of teachers ue150 the Durham workers
assembly ussw uh labor across the country uh is is raising their voice uh in in solidarity with this issue uh look there there's really no no politically convenient action on this issue uh we shouldn't reduce um the Indescribable pain um of those who are suffering in Gaza and those who are suffering in Israel into a political calculation um so tonight I hope that we add our name to the list of cities and that we pass a ceasefire resolution thank [Applause] you council member cavier thank you mayor Williams um thank you so much it was it's been a long evening um I first actually want to thank my colleague uh council member cook I think that many of you all on this dice knew I was quite frankly not a fan of moving forward in this process I was on the council in 2018 uh when we
passed uh a resolution around um police exchanges with Israel and it was probably one of the we've had many hard moments uh on this Council but it was a challenging moment and quite frankly I didn't want to do it again um and so I just want to thank my colleague because it was something that was really important to her um and so um part of being a good colleague is also working with with your colleagues and supporting them that is part of this job um and so um I will be supporting this resolution with its current language um and I think that I also just want to acknowledge Council member cook because she worked really diligently to try and bring this Council to consensus on language uh with many many different folks uh in her ear with lots of different asks across Community I also want to thank my colleague mayor Williams who did bring a small group of folks together again to try and bring consensus consensus on what we know is
divisive right I don't think that um something that's hard or divisive doesn't mean you shouldn't do it right I think a lot of times uh most of our most important decisions are things that were hard to do if they weren't hard to do they would have already been done um so um I do want to just acknowledge folks I think one of the things we we've heard pretty consistently is you know Raley's done this or Chapel Hill's done this I think we can all name that Duram is an especially unique Community not just in North Carolina and the South but across the country many of the folks in this room have talked about how they've chose Durham and they chose Durham because they found something special and meaningful and different here and so I think and and I think the elected leaders across the city reflect that I think there's a standard and an expectation on how we serve and deliver uh as elected leaders in this community that is different uh when we when we leave we're often told Durham's kind of
a hot mess and it is a little bit of a hot mess but I'll take it any day of the week um so thank you all for for pushing us uh I will say it's been a challenge for me especially um and I'm I'm not going to get I appreciate council member Baker's kind of deeper analysis on it um I have a lot I could share as somebody who is in this country because of actions of the US government I think many folks have talked about their own ancestries and their own family stories um I think what we're seeing also in this moment is a unifying and a response from the global South against deeper things around Imperial imperialism and militarism and I think that is why often you see those countries come out so strongly as Pro Palestinian Chile was one of the first uh countries that pulled its diplomats many Latin American countries did that and I think it is
because there is a recognition um and a identification of what is happening um I do also want to say and this was something that was very very um clear in the small group that I participated in with the mayor proem and Council um and mayor Williams is the recognition of the preciousness of human life and I think that this resolution very much calls to that so whether someone is Israeli or Palestinian the conflict there is is a huge failure around that recognition of the preciousness of human life and the Dignity of all human life and I think that we need to do better uh so yes this is a small piece of a bigger effort hopefully but that's the part that I think I hold the most is that we all have to do better we all have to realize our own Humanity our shared humanity and our and and that we do need to move in a
collective way if we want any hope of a different future thank you [Applause] council member Freeman you could just give me a moment I'm sorry say again if you could just give me a moment I'm still trying to get my thought okay council member W thank you Mr Mayor I'll be brief I know the hour is late again I want to thank everyone who's come today um and shared your most heartfelt feelings and opinion on this issue I know I know it's incredibly incredibly emotional um for the past month or so I've listened to you your testimony many in many meetings I've read your emails responded to many of them and I met with leaders on both sides of this issue you have come to us as your elected officials and I think others on the on the dice have mentioned this and B because we're the closest elected officials to you right um and frankly frankly with the with the
Republican super majority at the state level I think you feel like you're not heard there our federal government is mared in gridlock and so frankly we listen to you and so I appreciate you coming here to share your deepest deepest thoughts concerns and and and anguish about what's happening in um in the Middle East from my perspective our job and this is as one particularly wise constituent wrote to me the other day at this point in this hour it's not to judicate charges of genocide or apartheid or to try to propose some kind of long-term policy solution in the Middle East it's not our not our job at this point rather what I'm hearing simply is that you all feel like your federal government our federal policy is out of line with your values as people values of peace and the value of individual life and so I resonate with that and for that reason I'll support this resolution I do want to say a few words I think our I think our Jewish neighbors have probably left the room at I'm sure
you're listening online if there some here yet okay yeah yeah apologies apologies yeah yeah I do want to say I know I know that many Jewish neighbors would prefer we' not approve this resolution I know this Cuts deep I know this Cuts deep um what I'm voting for here is a clear policy disagreement with the state of Israel this is not about any question about whether Israel should exist it's simply a policy difference that I feel feel in my heart many of you all have expressed that and I think that's what I that's what I feel we're here to do primarily um so I want to he I want to share all our Jewish residents in Durham that we you're very much seen and heard in this debate we disagree on this one um and I want to apologize that is feel if this feels hurtful in any way to you finally I do want to I want to recognize my my colleague our youngest or youngest probably but also news colleag on Council for doing the hard work of of of drafting this resolution and hearing many many comments and and
um and uh feedback on the resolution so thanks for doing the hard work of drafting that and bringing that forward I also do want to thank the mayor you've done a remarkable job of allowing public discourse to take place often and in many messy ways but you've done that in a way that's allowed people to express their most their deepest fears and hopes and anguish and at the same time you've maintained a quorum and that means a lot that people have had the chance to express their opinions and we have done this in a way that we can all hear each other and and engage in debate respectfully so I really appreciate doing that so thank you council member Freeman are you are you ready
thank you I I just want to call into the room um just a little bit of of this experience on Council and just to just to see how well supported this issue has been in our community and just say that it hurts because you weren't here last year and I want to say that first and foremost and just knowing that these issues of Oppression and racism and colonization and how well-versed folks are on this issue Cuts deep because I know I spent a year in turmoil here and not many of you were in this room not many of you were a part of it not many of you were in conversation with myself or others
who were involved in it and and I get it it just I just want to be clear that that's what's holding me up right now and so as I bring as I bring my full self to this work I ran on a platform of social economic and environmental justice in 2017 and I've been here doing this work um consistently and I think to the best of my ability and nothing nothing would would prepare me for what we are seeing in this moment and I don't even know how to calculate it but to say that it is sheer power that keeps us silent it is sheer power that keeps us confused it keeps us um
misdirected and in so many ways I I can't help but say like there's a white liberalism in the room that's irritating and it's when you don't say these things that you can't I can't be genuine in this space if I don't say that and I and I think I I just need to be very like open with you in saying that this resolution I mean it could have been done months ago and we've gone through these many months to get to this point and it's frustrating I'll just say that and I was here in 2018 I I I really appreciate council member m cabier bringing that up because as a black woman I refuse to be the one to bring this forward I I just want to be very upfront in saying that I told my people in my neighborhoods I'm not doing it I've
fallen on the sword enough times and I've been cut and I've been torn down in so many ways and I need you to hear this because this is why politicians don't do what you're asking them to do and so if you really want people who fight for justice you have to support them and I I only say that because because there's so much more we could get from the work together and our community because this is not just about Palestine this is about the boys and girls who are shooting each other in our streets this is about the women and children who were dying um in child birth here in the United States and I hear like I I know that it's a culmination of all of that that brings us to this point and that's why it hurts so bad because you're seeing it live and in action like on a 24-hour reel if
you've got Instagram and it's impossible to tolerate like personally and so I know I sat in a Precinct meeting this weekend um you know no shade to anyone else I'm a Democrat and I'm a proud Dem crap because I believe that we are better when we make things change and the resolution that came forward on this was [Music] so the sentiment was there and all the words were wrong and I couldn't I couldn't I couldn't like gather myself enough to to just say we've got to be better we've got to do more and this resolution isn't it and so I want to I want to really like be wholehearted in supporting this moving forward in a way that actually is
authentically genuine but I am very clear like I saw the hurt in folks eyes um in the Jewish Community when we did pass the resolution last time and I didn't I did not like that and I am very clear that today I hold that tension because I I can feel my heart and my head while my head in my heart unable to make sense of what we're seeing today because there is some sickness in us that would think that we could shoot and you know Propel Rockets like these are man-made tools being used against women children the civilians everyone Someone's Child like and I don't have an answer and so if this resolution is what gets us to that point I'm fine uh for the city of durm without a
lawsuit that you know puts us in crosshairs of anybody like there are so many layers to this conversation that are not said and I want to say them to you and just being like we've got to be better we just got to be better and I'll leave it at that um have like responses to almost everybody's comments but yeah thank you council member cook um I have also written my statements which is not generally my style as yall will come to know um but this is a there's a lot of things that I want to say I'm not going to hit all of them but I'm going to try um I want to also thank
my colleagues and particularly all of you for coming out to speak so eloquently on this issue and I'm already crying okay it's fine um I want to really specifically talk to the Jews who've come out um I know because I am Jewish and um it has been a lifelong struggle for me uh to find my place in the Jewish community and hold opinions different than the Zionist Jews that I was around and um it's just it is so powerful and I I understand the difficulty in the risk of ostracization that you face when you come out and speak on these issues and I just all I can say is that I understand and I I really thank you for coming out um what you have before you is a document that I know is short but it took hours and hours of time it took um
rewrites it took late night phone calls um including from my Rabbi who was willing to speak with me you know on on the drop of a hat and um and other members of of the community who have um sat with me over a kitchen table and watched me cry so um I want to thank everybody who has shared in the weight of this action um and that includes my colleagues as well uh it has been really heavy for a lot of us and I know that there are members of the Jewish Community who are going to feel pain at the passage of this resolution as a Jew it BRS breaks my heart that we have tied ourselves to this idea of Zionism such that we can't really interrogate the actions of a government as separate than our
religion I also want to recognize that being Jewish comes with a contemporary understanding that anti-Semitism is the number one religious-based hate crime and the fears that we experience the the constant search for the exits at synagogue the pain as you know and our communities are targeted that is all real and um someone said earlier we we are a people of diaspora and we long for a place just like many other folks who have been people of diaspora and people um who have faced eradication but Judaism is more than just fear Judaism is adaptability it's change it's a text with rabbis words written around the text and another layer of rabbis words written around that text we grapple and that is the
beauty of Judaism and our history has been that we have stood we have stood in moments where there have been larger movements we have stood with people who are not Jewish we have recognized Injustice and another thing that we have done that I think is so important is that we have preserved our history and it is ugly and it is hard and we do that because we want I want the idea of genocide to not be one that we have to keep calling events in the future but unfortunately though that term was coined in the Holocaust it has been applied to many other places and it is being applied by many courts and many countries to the current situation that
we're seeing I know that for everyone that's going to feel hurt by this resolution there's so many of you who are also feeling frustrated by its limitations and I'm frustrated too um many of you have laid out the atrocities that are ongoing when I think about the the pain and the grief that people are feeling I can't understand it um as many of you know I practice law and I am an eviction defense lawyer and people ask me all the time how I deal with the trauma and how I go every day to eviction court and the truth of it is I have very close to my heart a Jewish teaching which is that to save one person is to save the whole world but the other side of that is that to kill one person is to kill the entire
world and I can't come to terms with how many worlds we are killing there's no amount of fear that can rationalize this there's no amount that can keep us silent you the constituents of Durham have come to us to speak and I believe that we do have a responsibility to do so as someone on this Das has already said it is my first act as a as a public official um and I don't take it lightly um every city that raises their voice of their constituents sends a message that you the people of Durham are not okay with the trajectory of our federal government and I think that that is important and that is why I have put this resolution in front of you
today now I've talked about a a little bit of what I think it will do but I want to also talk really really seriously about what this resolution is not going to do this is just a step it is just a beginning this resolution does not preclude this city from taking stronger stances regarding our military regarding our investments in Israel these are still options that are available to us it does not preclude Durham for taking to the streets and protest for calling stronger language out on your social media for making posts for having really difficult conversations with your family and friends and it does not preclude us from grieving publicly and loudly we need all of that and more it is my fervent hope that this resolution passes tonight and I hope that my colleagues will join me in standing on the right side of history and I hope that this act with
the acts of what I hope all of you will continue to do will move the needle just a bit because if we only save one life we will have saved the whole world thank [Applause] you thank you council member cook mayor pro thank you your honor and thank you uh colleagues for perhaps one of the most important discussions we've had in this chamber and I want to thank all of you uh for coming out tonight to your house to your chamber um those of you that live in Duram and those that are visiting Durham want to thank you uh for being here um this discussion this is my first time having an opportunity to speak on this I was not at the um council meeting and work session uh when this was brought up uh so I want to thank my colleagues for for just abiding me uh for a little bit um as I speak to
this issue many many cities around our country have passed resolutions many of those resolutions have been split votes Raleigh and Chapel Hill part of the reason why they did not pursue a resolution is because they would have been split votes Durham has and I think still has an opportunity to pass a unanimous resolution this resolution is not going to be unanimous and I want to tell you why um first of all I want to I want to be clear I want to speak to this notion that's been bandied about that this is out of our wheelhouse and that City councils have no business speaking on International Affairs I want to just reject that um out of hand um in in America we don't we don't have a crown there's no king or queen to handle matters of State our president
who is chief executive is also head of state so our president not only deals in policy our president expresses the values of the American people we don't have it's not separate so elected officials routinely fix po holes and also emote what their people are feeling so it is wholly appropriate for elected officials to to to speak and to OTE not only about potholes and answering 911 calls but also about what is the paos what is the feeling what is the the uh the the the the spirit of the day um of their people so I reject out of hand and and saying that we're against babies being killed in a foreign country and naming that country is as much a foray into international relations as me ordering a Belgian waffle or getting a Swedish massage doesn't mean you're because you call the name you're going into international relations so I I reject that um I also want to call out that you know
some folk who said mind our business it's not our place to speak let the experts speak on it well when the experts do speak Secretary of State or the President says that the reactions are over the top we then hear they don't know what they're talking about so so I understand people are going to come down where they come down we we have a right to speak and it's appropriate um that we speak on it this I want to say uh very very very directly and genuinely with respect that the way we experience horror and what is going on in Gaza is horrific not adopting your way of speaking about it or your world viw wholesale does not mean that we are not in the same place in terms of hor our horror let me give you an example we talk about uh uh how much time it took us to respond to this I believe that
this Council took an action and exercise power that we actually do have in the city where we turn something off that we know saved people's lives so is it appropriate would it be appropriate for me I'm talking about shotspotter so and we're waiting for Duke to tell us whether or not it works so I have a question if between now and the Duke report someone gets shot and bleeds out in an area where shot spotter sensors were on and it happens while they're off is that blood on the hands of my colleagues who voted against it is it on your hands those who were against it um and if not why not I mean that that's an action that we actually took con conely where we proactively used our power to undo a situation we actually have power over and the the the
the the U the urgency of the matter is that there's gunfire still going on in our city but we have time to wait for the report should it not be as urgent to us the the babies that are dying here in Durham as the ones in Gaza as well but we have time for that and I bring that up because I think that we could reach a unanimous decision I believe so I believe that the the the path that the mayor laid out at the beginning and the the spirit in which we were proceeding I think was a good way in getting us to that path let me tell you something that happened tonight this resolution started off being named a resolution to end violence between Israel and Palestine it was a it almost suggests that this isn't going to be policy prescriptive this is going to be a high moral call to end violence tonight while we were up here a name change was sent for the resolution that
added ceasefire which is a council member's right to do but well if that happened tonight so so if we are making those changes as recently as right now as tonight the work that would went in to and I only had one conversation by the way and that was to get Hamas added to the resolution the name and then other things were added in the work that we're doing as recently as tonight I think we could continue to do and exercise the same patients we're exercising waiting for a report for Duke we can get this right as well when um when I when I read the langu and and I voted for the resolution in 2018 and I have a bit of a unique uh unique experience with respect to the resolution uh in 2018 I voted for in 2018 last year I actually sat in Israel and had to defend that resolution in a building that's the equivalent of the US state department and in aesse and
I had to defend the use of the term apartheid uh uh why I felt comfortable uh equating those same things and and went toe-to-toe with folk and many of the same arguments that were made here tonight I made this resolution this resolution for me it says that uh it started off as a resolution supporting an end to violence between Israel screens acting up between Israel thank you in into the violence between Israel and Palestine and now it's moved to a a ceasefire resolution part of the thing part of the the path that the mayor had laid out was to try to reach unanimity by avoiding prescriptive policy Solutions because we can call for an end of violence but if we get into uh prescriptive policy policy Solutions let me give you an example of why what I'm struggling with we are voting to place the cities
in prata it's not mine it's not any of our individuals we are voting to place the cities and promada on this resolution and as filled as this room is as impressive as the crowd that has shown up to this building we've got an equal amount of of email and other Communications from the other side as well so so and that's our colleagues inboxes are filled with those emails as well part of what I have to do be able to do and what I was able to do in 2018 is is to explain the resolution and defend it with intellectual Integrity let me give you an example one of the lines in the resolution says a disproportionate response it didn't say an inappropriate response it said disproportionate which means that the resolution itself is contemplating not the appropriateness of the response but the degree of the
response so for my intellectual Integrity if we've already in the resolution acknowledged that the response is disproportionate and then a few a paragraph down we say we want a ceasefire well for me to defend it a ceasefire is a term of Art in diplomatic circles that implies that there are two or more equally situated parties acting in good faith are we calling for a ceasefire absent a two State solution and who is the who are we addressing it to to Hamas and based upon what I've heard T tonight why would Hamas honor a cease fire absent a two-state resolution what what what is what is what is what is the rationale for it so for me this isn't about the spirit of the resolution it's about me being able to have intellectual Integrity in defending it where one minute I am allowing for a
critique of not an inappropriate but disproportionate response and then calling for a ceasefire as if there are two equal parties at the table that is not intellectually honest for me but I think we can get there if we did more work but if this is the language tonight then it will not be a unanimous vote the prescription of of cutting off funds is something that when the mayor first talked about this it is a policy prescription that we said I I thought we had agreed to as a council that we were going to try and bring as many people in our city because listen I'm not running for congress I'm not a federal official I'm a local guy I'm a local elected official and I love that and the people of durm almost 300,000 have weighed in on this and my understanding was that we were going to try and get as close to as many of them as possible I I'll say this and I'll I'll I'll end and I want to I seriously want
to thank my colleagues and I appreciate council member riss mentioning the term policy if we get into a policy statement then I think it betrays what our original goal was with which was to capture as many voices of durm as possible because from a policy point of view I don't know how to explain disproportionate response but bilateral ceasefire absent a two-state solution I don't know how to explain that so I'm not against the spirit of this document I want to place the city's emata on a document that I can like I did in Israel last year sit across the table from critiques and honor uh argue it with uh intellectual honesty I think we can get there but this is not the document that does that thank you Mr
Mayor thank you to my colleagues I um council member cook I had no idea what you were going to bring to this Council when you were selected and you know as we all stated I I think we would have been fine with either candidate um but I I listened to you I have um I've admired you and you know I didn't tell you this but I was searching my email for looking for
your email and I found an email that you sent to me I believe in 2022 I believe something it was it was a while ago and um I saw that email and I said oh boy she runs those campaigns she gets people riled up and she's going to blow this email a box up and so that was my initial perception but one night you called me really late after you were selected to council and he said hey I've been trying to reach you all day and you were calling the phone number that you're supposed to call that I never answer so you finally call my personal sell which is what I usually answer and you said hey I um you said these words and I'll never
forget he said I know that you are working on a process to really bring people together for this uh SE fire matter but I I do want to respect that but I really think we should take on a resolution because it's personal to me and I have skin in the game now when you stated those words to me you gave me an immediate course correction of my perception of you uh you you made it very clear that you were a fighter and that you you didn't need to be loud but you knew how to have a hard conversation and you knew how to you know yeah address the difficult situation no matter who it was and I
appreciated that because while we didn't know each other and we still don't know each other that well we're getting there um that night you earned my respect and and I just want to tell you that because I have not spoken publicly about this resolution or this entire ceasefire at all because I did not feel it was my place to tilt the scale either way but it was more so my place to be a leader in this community and the leader of this city to try and do what was right and that was really embrace all of the pain and passion of people all over this city and so that is what I really focused my energy on and I am absolutely exhausted I am
tired I am you know when we passed this tonight um it's not over I think Durham will have stated where we symbolically stand um I think that you know words on a paper is no more than symbolic i words have power and I think they have more power when we speak them I think that um they have more power when we speak them because it it really causes us to act um and and and that is the practice that I hope everyone will adopt and adapt to there is um something unique and I I
I'm not sure but I I felt like council member Freeman was sort of the sort of headed this direction um but I'm not sure I I'll say what I what I'm going to say uh what I've seen in this process made me really really uh Envy um the ability to convene you all have been able to do something whether you're in this room or you're watching online you all have been able to do something that I haven't seen in a really long time I mean I'm talking like the 60s and I only have seen that just in video obviously I was minus 20 something years old um but I do Envy it I envy it bad um when when when taking on this
process I will say that I had a lot of conversations with my colleagues and one thing I can say about this Council we're going to be cordial with one another we have really really really tough and direct conversations with one another and we get up here and we do the business and it feels great no matter the outcome so I want to thank also council member ciero and mayor may approach in Middleton because they sat in a room with me and I don't get emotional about many things until it comes to our people and we sat in that room at Duke Memorial some of you all were there that are even in this room right now and I thank you too I want to thank
Reverend Banna v v yelson because every time I call her she picks up the phone and without hesitation she goes to work and when I told her that I I I I said listen I'm struggling with this and I really need help and I want to bring sort of an intellectual Team of Rivals together I want to bring people together who don't agree I want to bring imams I want to bring rabbis on both sides of this issue I want to bring Christian leaders I want to bring activists together and that tonight tonight is not scary to me but being in that room with those 15 or 16 people was one of the scariest nights of my life it just so happened to to be on the
holiday that we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr and we sat in that room shoulder to shoulder and I remember Rabbi Noah breathing and they were breathing trying to gather themselves before they spoke and I remember Rabbi Graver turning dark red it's gam saying wake up my people I remember Bishop Gabby I remember these expressions and people were just they they were there was so much
emotional just I don't know it's just emotional it was just emotional that I broke down in tears because my biggest fear was I had just bought people in a room who vly disagreed on one particular thing that was so widespread and so tense that you could almost see and feel tangible Heat but it wasn't hate it was people really passionate on where they stood and living and speaking from their lived experiences but I broke down in tears because I did not want to hurt anyone in my community like it or not I am your leader in this community and my strength is defined by you all my fear is reflected in you
all and as I'm going through this process and and I just remember how tense the room was in the beginning and we we we spoke and we spoke and we spoke and we went around and I you know I open up and I shut up and I just let the room be facilitated and then at the end you know we ask everyone you know what what do you need to see what do you need to have in this and at the time for the record we had not determined whether it was going to be a resolution or statement or anything but that was the process and I I I could be selfish here and say at least leaving there I had some sense of direction but that that was the approach that I took and I
remember council member cook calling me and she said I really think we should do a resolution and at that time I I was torn because I agree with what I'm reading there were there were there there are parts that I thought that were there are parts that I thought had been overly politicized or there are parts that are extremely politicized that lean us into being a bit prescriptive but at the end of the day I had to no matter how many people I engaged with at the end of the day I had to I had to fall back and say okay Leo how do you how do you be able to live what you
believe act on it and so that is what I struggle with and it I still struggle with should we do a resolution I mean we can't make anything happen we I you know and I was wondering what the policy steps were the policy steps are the action steps now therefore be it resolved that the city of Durham Etc but I also know that just I remember what happened in 2018 and I remember how it it tore this community apart and I honestly believe that no matter what side the council at that time fell on it was going to tear the community apart I believe that this will also tear the community
apart because there are some that want a resolution there are some that don't want a resolution there are some who want this resolution there are some who want a stronger re resolution and I believe that I don't know I I I don't I don't know how we how we truly reflect the diversity of our community here but I just wanted to appreciate and name the process that we took to bring people together and I think there's a a lot of value in that I want to name that council member cook the the you doing the work to bring this language here um I didn't know what to expect when you did bring it to me I and and the fact that you said please send us to your small group it it really changed my perspective it it actually got me to the point of okay but I I I I also have to think about where we are in
Duram and so um we have a lot of issues in Durham and I'm going to ask for your support to address those issues in Durham the way we've supported this because your especially if you have family in Israel or Gaza especially if you have lived experiences from there the way this impacts you impacts so many people right here in Durham that are from Duram it impacts me because the issues that we're dealing with and Durham I do know more than I know this and there was someone who when there was a candle lighting at the uh at the at Center City and I know I'm talking a lot but you know what we've been on this for a long time so you're going to hear it
um there was a night at the at the center of City uh a candle light Visual and and I spoke and I said I want to thank you all for being out here I want to thank you for um um preserving life or wanting to preserve life because at that point in time that's where I was that's I was still learning the uh the understanding and there was someone that said you know because I did say I was like you know it's really complicated to understand what's happening here and there was someone that said there's no complication how dare can you how dear can it be complicated mayor the way I have made space for you I want you to make space for me as well as I said the only oppression I was familiar with was when my people were bought over on a ship that was the history that I studied that wasn't taught to me in school so if I didn't know what was happening in this situation don't ever do that we always have to make room for one
another ignorance isn't always intentional so I I ask for your grace I ask for your grace I ask for your grace for Durham and I give all of us Grace we are finally here and I'm going to say this um tomorrow I will also release the statement that I initially wrote that reflected um that reflected my engagement with the small group uh even since then I have worked with a lot of people to just make make sure that I'm not just dancing around in landmines and saying things that are inappropriate uh I will be uh releasing that statement uh for myself as mayor uh and I I know that this will pass tonight um and I hope that the resolution will be available
for the public as well as uh the statement I want to make sure that the decision of this Council reflects the the the community of Durham um and I hope that we show up for the things that we can actually invoke policy and make impact on right here in Durham as well that's going to be really important so I I one of my colleagues said I really hope that we can pass this unanimously and that is that is what I hope it hoped as well I think but however I I don't think that really gener I don't think that really reflects all of Durham and I don't want this to be a political win one side versus the other so I to to everyone's point I don't want it to be a unanimous vote I wanted to reflect Durham I do hope that we I I hope this I
hope we pass this I hope the language is out there but I I think it should reflect Durham so I will uh at this point I will get us to that and uh I'm going to this may be inappropriate but I'm going to ask council member cook to call for this motion and I'll second Itor F again I'm going to make a motion for agenda item 46 resolutions supporting a ceasefire and an end violence between Israel and Palestine to be passed by this body second it's been moved and properly seconded mayor mayor um um I'm sorry Madame clerk not mayor Sher Madame clerk
will you please open the vote please close the vote the motion passes 5 to2 with mayor Williams and mayor proen Middleton voting no thank you Mr Mayor I would like to um just take a moment and make a request to amend the resolution um just acknowledging uh I there's something about the the person who spoke about the Diary of Anne Frank I want to say and it really is pulling on me not to address that and acknowledging that the word genocide needs to be included in this [Applause]
resolution and I was just going to ask for um just an unamended emotion for the resolution to include the word genocide and if there were a second um council member Freeman I am going to acknowledge the passage of it I but I I I want to really take council member Cook's advice device as well uh to take this further take it Beyond where we are now and I'll acknowledge what we have passed and I will I will just really encourage us to to take this to where to in within the capacity to which um you like I'm doing I I'm so I just I just want to just it's really problematic to
not say what the thing is and just ackn I I don't want I don't want you to say anything I don't want any snaps give me a second there is there is a an underg guring of of power and the way that things are being structured in this conversation that I am not okay with and it is it is not worth sitting through this not calling it out and not saying it uh just based on the life I've had to live and so many of my ancestors and I know that there are consequences to the actions we take and there are consequences to the actions we don't take so the fact that sitting on this Das
with all of you I want to say that there is a great deal of respect that comes with the w with the amount of time and the amount of just steadfast continued like you you're following along you you know how things are going you understand what's happening this is is not this is not the best representation of Duram right now and that is what is most hard to swallow and I just want to make sure that we are doing our best to represent durm and and stating very clearly that anytime that you're using weapons of mass destruction to kill children it is not okay and that is
just it like there's no other side to this and every time we do this either or side thing that that frustrates me and I am [Music] not it's not lost on me that I've tried my hardest not to bring up the fact that there are Christians in Palestine because I don't want to UND undo the the Islamic F like there is so many layers to this and every comment that you make there's a reason the gentleman came in here and said that palestin didn't exist until 1967 and that is the type of message that comes across in a very racist way that I can't deal with it it is triggering I I don't know how to I don't know how to this country has a long history of harm and I own it which is why I can
stand and salute my flag I appreciate every man woman in and non-binary person who is who has sacrificed their life to serve this country and keep me safe and I am also very clear like that is not it does not give you cart blanch to kill people in this way and if it were my country I would want to do more and so just saying the word genocide in and of itself is one step that moves us closer to that and I do think that as a city we have to get there that's what thank you um I I I I don't I don't want to leave that leave any Cliffhangers because we are about to adjourn the meeting um council member Freeman I I we have
uh colleagues I don't need to whisper in my ears right now council member Freeman we all had a moment to share our remarks we actually have had four months to share our remarks we've had four months to negotiate with one another and I do not want to after the vote take this any further than where it has gone now we need to act on what we've passed let it become our everyday lived experience let it become our live what we passed live it out but we have passed this we've gone through a lot into after the vote to do that no we're not and and I I hear exactly what you're saying I hear all the things you're saying we're not doing that and and I
and I want I want to make sure that I I am I am I am want I want to make sure that I have given space for this so I want to respect where we are and that's that is now policy and again council member cook I I really appreciate the work you you put into this and I do believe as I said I don't want to you animous vote because I think it represents this city right now and that's where we are that is all of our agenda items at 12:54 we are jour