Council Formal Meeting

2:48Okay, welcome to today's meeting. We're happy to have you here, whether you're joining a person or online. We hope you'll continue to participate in whichever manner you feel the most comfortable. Please join us for the Pledge of Allegiance. Today it's of America and it's your 30th public for a religious stand, one-way mission, under our individual with liberty and justice for all.

3:23Okay, before we move through the agenda, I want to quickly go through registration, information, and share the reasoning about how and why we share these meetings the way we do. We welcome everyone regardless of your opinion or side to any issue. Because we will have people with varying opinions on important issues, the council's goal is to make the meetings a place where people feel safe and comfortable participating.

3:45This is the most local level of government and it is a key value of ours to ensure that we have created a respectful and safe environment so that no one is intimidated out of free participation. This also allows us to ensure that the meeting can continue and we can conduct the scheduled city business. We invite each of you to contribute to this space to speak your mind and to welcome others to do the same.

4:05In order to create this welcoming and safe space, we will pause the meeting at any action that causes a disruption to our ability to conduct the meeting or any safety concern involving threats or unprotected speech. If there are repeated actions or comments, it may result in removal from the meeting. We will not be giving multiple warnings about the following of the rules.

4:23To avoid intimidating others, please avoid the use of threatening and discriminatory language, do not insult others based on religion, ethnicity, race, color, gender, sexual orientation or physical ability. Whether you agree or disagree with someone's comment, clapping, cheering, shouting, booing, snapping, gesturing, obstructing or discouraging others from commenting is not allowed.

4:42As a reminder, as council members, we refrain from reacting or responding to allow everyone to share their opinions freely. This is to keep our reactions from affecting your ability to share opinion. If you would like to follow up with any of us, please see Council staff or the Zoom chat for contact information. When making your comments, please address the body and not any individual elected official.

5:04If you have a handout for the council, please raise your hand and Council staff will assist you. Council staff are available during or after the meeting to help with any questions or information sharing. The full meeting rules are listed at the door and our staff will post the link in Zoom. As a reminder of a public comment registration process, individuals may register to comment on scheduled public hearing items up until the hearing is closed.

5:27For the general comment section, we will accept sign-ups until 7.30 pm. The general comment section is limited to a maximum of one hour and will only include commenters who register before 7.30. So if you are here to give general comments, please sign up and remember that it is not possible not everyone who signs up may get to speak.

5:45This brings us now to item A4, which is approving the work session meeting minutes of August 12, 2025, November 25, 2025, January 27, 2026, and the formal meeting minutes of July 1, 2025 in August 12, 2025, as well as the January 5, 2026, oath of office minutes. I will look for a motion. So moved. Second. I have a motion from Council Member Dugan and a second from Puy.

6:13Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? That passes unanimously. This brings us to the public hearing section of our agenda. There are specific proposals before the Council that require public hearing. Your comments should be, should pertain to the hearing item if you go off topic, we'll ask you to stop your comment.

6:32In order to create this welcoming and safe space, we'll pause the meeting for any disruption to our ability to conduct the meeting or any safety concern involving threats or unprotected speech. If there are repeated actions or comments, it may result in removal from the meeting. We will not be giving multiple warnings about following these rules.

6:47Also as a reminder, please avoid comments that include profanity, personal attacks, or discriminatory language. Such comments can be intimidating for others and are not persuasive or compelling. If you are on Zoom, please unmute your mic when your name is called. Each person will have two minutes. If you reach the two-minute mark, the host will announce time and your microphone will be muted.

7:05We'll be calling the names in the order of sign up. If you need staff assistance in the room, please raise your hand and someone will be with you. If you're having technical issues in Zoom or need any assistance, message staff support and ask Akshay from our staff who can assist you. If you're unable to finish your comment, please share the rest via email, mail, or call our office.

7:25Contact information is listed at slcgov slash council. If you have a handout for the council, please notify staff who can assist you. Our first public hearing for items B1 to B5 are for grant applications and will be heard as one public hearing. Before we begin taking comments, I'll turn the time over to Sylvia Richards, council policy analyst who will give a short introduction.

7:48Thank you, Madam Chair. Periodically, the city receives and applies for grants which help to fund some programs. Each grant receives a public hearing, allowing the public and the city council to learn more about them. First is the transportation alternatives program grant for fiscal year 28. The green bike capital care program which will fund six green bike stations and 58 e-bikes.

8:20Second is the carbon reduction program green bike expansion grant for fiscal year 2032, which will fund four new stations stuck with e-bikes to expand the system and link the east and west sides of the city. That is the transportation alternative program grant for fiscal year 2028, red bute creek trail, which would fund design and preliminary cost estimate for phase one proposed beehive bike way.

8:52Fourth is the Rocky Mountain Power Foundation public safety wellness grant which would fund the purchase of equipment to enhance focus and improve physical and mental health for the Salt Lake City 911 staff. Fifth is the fiscal year 26 Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Grant which would fund salary and benefits for an existing canine officer and financial manager assigned to the task force as well as travel, training and overtime for outside agencies to participate in the task force.

9:28Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Isak, can you please start with our first public comment? Thank you Madam Chair. Our first person here to speak is Olive Peterson Jacoby. All of you may now talk. Oh, one second. There was any issue with Zoom. Okay. All of you may now talk. Hello. My name is Olive Peterson Jacoby and I live in the Maven district.

10:01I'm here today or not here but here virtually today to ask that you deny the police department's grant application request. During your state of the city address, Mayor Mendenhall said in reference to the connect list that the goal of our project is to reduce police interactions and help each person progress towards greater personal accountability while also shining a light on the gaps within the criminal justice and judicial systems.

10:25But those gaps are not a failure of the system. They are a fundamental part of it. And if you continue to pour money into them, they will only grow wider and wider. I am asking the council when we stop indulging Salt Lake City Police Department and force them to operate within their budget. When we take the millions of dollars that they use to brutalize and intimidate our vulnerable communities and instead invest in those people, time and time again research shows that the most effective way to reduce drug-related crime is to improve conditions so that addicts don't need to resort to crime in the first place.

11:00Instead of letting real estate development groups turn the city into a giant apartment complex, the city should build affordable housing that isn't privately owned and just slightly lower than market rate. We should follow the example of New York and Santa Fe and increase the local minimum wage so that it's consistent with the cost of living and inflation.

11:17We should build warming centers, free clinics, and ban the use of hostile architecture. And we should stop relying on mutual aid groups to feed and supply unhoused populations. We need to work with medical professionals and addicts to improve the wise of our constituents. Decisions should be made based on clinical research, not aesthetic and moral judgments.

11:37An effort should be made to rehabilitate every individual in need, not just the top 50. It's entirely unfair to talk about accountability or expect someone to recover from a drug addiction when they're freezing on the street with no money or food and nursing injuries they can't afford to treat. Week after week, SLCPD asks the city for more resources.

11:55We need to stop giving them to them and read, adjust or plan. There's nobody else here to speak to that item. Thank you, SAC. I'll look for a motion. Madam Chair, I move that the Council close the public hearing and refer items B1 through B5 to a future consent agenda for action. Second, I have a motion from Council Member Puillien, a second from Councilwoman Carlson, any discussion?

12:23All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? That passes unanimously. All right. Our next item, B6, is a resolution for the Northwest Pipeline Building and new construction public benefit analysis. Before we begin taking comments, I'll turn the time over to Alison Roland, Council Policy Analyst to give a short introduction. Thank you, Madam Chair.

12:46Is the microphone on? I think so. Yeah, okay. The Department of Community and Neighborhoods, or CAN, conducted an informal public benefits analysis for a housing development project known as the Grove at approximately 321 East and 200 South. The proposed development would include the historic Northwest Pipeline Building and a new residential building.

13:10Together, they would provide 196 units of workforce housing, ground floor commercial space, a parking structure for residents, and a public plaza and public art. The city would sell the property at a below market sales price of $1 million, which would be paid over a 55-year period. The public benefits analysis found that this development project would promote the city goals of increasing affordable housing, eliminating a development impediment, and preservation of historic structures and property.

13:44Thank you, Alison. Isak, would you please start with our first public comment? We have four people speaking to this item in person. Next up is Cindy Kromer, followed by Calvin Fores, and then Anne Ruth. Cindy Kromer can go. My name is Cindy Kromer, and I'm speaking as an individual. My goal in speaking to you all is to consistently start with something positive.

14:11It is very difficult in this case. I'll go back to the Becker administration. We were on the corner in front of Slack when windburns design for the Northwest Pipeline. Ralph spoke, so did Michael Iverson on behalf of the Central City Neighborhood Council. Cowboy partners would take over with the violin commons. This looked really good to me.

14:36And then things went south. We were in the Baskowski administration. I can't find out how this project fell apart in the Baskowski administration, and I have tried, but you should know. It's more important that you know than me. And so where are we now? Well, Heinz gets to build a surface parking lot on Main Street, and there's a whole story about what happened 40 years ago about parking lots on Main Street that I'll share with you sometime.

15:06And the four-purchase housing that the successful team for the Northwest Pipeline promised is gone. And the cost for the property is within the realm of what I, as a small fish in the housing market, could pay.

15:21It is sobering and sad to think that I could have recruited some partners for the construction and been a contender for the rebirth of Slack when burned masterpiece. What the neighborhood needs are opportunities for purchase as promised by the applicant. Thanks. Next, we'll hear from Calvin Force followed by Anne Ruth Iasonson and then Stephen Otterstrom.

15:51Calvin Force, you may go. Good afternoon, council members. It's good to see you all again. I'm Calvin Force. I'm a representative with the Carpenters Union here with the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters. Local 801, you've heard from us before. So I'm here to speak on this Northwest Pipeline building. Personally, I think I know after listening in on the work session a couple of weeks ago that this is finally maybe coming to fruition.

16:18And this has been kind of an eyesore. It's been a safety hazard. The police have had to get involved with a number of issues because of vagrancy or whatever you want to call it. It's been kind of a magnet for problems in this city. And I believe part of the problem was back then it was, hey, we're going to develop this and then it was well.

16:37It's on the National Historic Register. So we can't just tear it down and start over with a clean slate. I may be a little bit uneducated on those issues, but that's what I gathered from that. So speaking and representing the Carpenters Union members here with me, these all represent people that have done some of the work in some of the iconic buildings in this town recently.

16:58There's the Astra Tower and the Worthington Tower, both finished on the inside by some of our signatory contractors. What that has provided is good jobs for these individuals with good pay, excellent benefits, a retirement, all those sorts of things. I know I'm kind of speaking to the choir here a little bit, but I think this is an opportunity and I would like to actually have a chance to speak with the developer, but I don't think that they're here.

17:25But I'll kind of work on that. I might be able to get a hold of Ben McAdams. But either way, this is a chance to take that and turn it into something that would be beneficial to the community by providing jobs, wages, and benefits to the people that are working on that. Now, obviously, it's not going to be everybody involved, but we'll take what we can get when it comes to the framing and the drywall and the build out of the existing Northwest pipeline building and the planned additional structures on that property.

17:54I'm excited to see what the Council does with that and what the developer does with it. I think it would be a great chance for everybody involved. Next, we will hear from Anne-Routhing Isaacson, followed by Stephen Norderström. Thank you, City Council members. One representing Center City Neighborhood Council, you should each have a map.

18:22The City is proposing to sell a publicly owned property which appraised for about $18 million for just $1 million. This represents a significant public subsidy and opportunity cost. Financing has not yet been secured. The developer has shown very little progress since 2024's selection. We are concerned about continued delay and the developer's ability to carry out the project.

18:56The current proposal consists entirely of low income apartments which are greatly overrepresented in this pocket of the neighborhood. Please see the reference map. The median income in this census tract is about 57% of the county's area median income. We are concerned about the further concentration of poverty, something the United States learned was not a good practice decades ago.

19:26The Housing Authority proposal that was selected proposed 63 home ownership units within the project which have since been eliminated. Council City is about 80% renters and is in need of more long term residents. CCNC asked the Council to deny Housing Authority's requests and instead to sell the land at market rate to set the stage for long term neighborhood stability and greater downtown SLC stability.

19:58In the interest of disclosure, Center City, Neighborhood Council Board Chair Austin Taylor and land use committee chair Travis Staley, do their job conflicts and interests are recusing from any public comment on this. Thank you. Last up is Stephen Otterstrom. 18 million is a really big subsidy and if we are going to make a really big subsidy we need to get a lot out of it.

20:34I am not even opposed to potentially doing something like this but let's think about it from the perspective of per unit. That's about $98,000 per unit. That's a big subsidy. Now individually when I talk to all of you I hear a lot of talk about having alternative ownership models but collectively I don't ever see that come about.

20:57This would be the opportunity. We could do something like cooperative housing where we're subsidizing at 98,000 per unit and then allow owners to actually own where they live. This is our opportunity. This is when we could really make a difference. Now, even if you don't want to do that now you could build into the agreement a first right of refusal so that if they do sell because right now they have the ability to sell at full market value if they sell it later on.

21:26That's in the deal. We could put in a first right of refusal so that renters would have the opportunity to purchase it, wore that to come up later and they could get the discount that you're giving right now. They should not have to pay that $18 million. Ben doesn't need that much money. Also I hear many of you say that you would support rights for renters and you can't do it because of the state.

21:48I get that but you can do it right now. In this you could write in certain rights against unfair fees. Right now affordable housing is hardly affordable because you can put a fee for parking, a fee for pets, you can do a fee for your fees and collecting those fees. You can do an application fee. There's so many fees that essentially remove the affordable aspect of affordable housing.

22:14This is a great opportunity. Let's not blow it. Let's not make this a subsidy for people who don't really need it. Let's make it something that matters to those who really do need to live on where they live. Isak was at the last one? Yes, there's nobody else here for that item. Okay, I'll look for a motion. Madam Chair, I move that the Council close the public hearing and adopt a resolution authorizing the sales price and term sheet for the GRAB project at approximately 321E's 200 South, also known as the Northwest Pipeline Building and adjacent properties.

22:56Second. I have a motion from Council Member Puy and a second from Council Member Wharton. Any discussion to this? Madam Chair, I'm online. Yes. Thank you. This is Council Member Lopez-Chava speaking. I just want to share with the public that on the 12th of February, the public activity bond, LITEC application, two separate applications for this project were submitted.

23:23Based off of that, I do think it is sound logic to extend the public hearing that way we can see and confirm if a 4% project will be accepted by the public activity board. If it's not accepted, then a 9% application would have to be resubmitted further delaying this project and it would change the financial increment on this project as well.

23:44I met with Hames this afternoon before I had to leave to be able to understand their performance. I think due to this, it is sound that we extend the public hearing and so I would ask my colleagues to vote against this motion. Thank you. Are you actually presenting a substitute motion to continue the hearing or are you proposing that we should vote no and shut this down altogether?

24:10So with Robert's rules, we would have to vote for the first motion and then we could propose the second motion unless the maker of the first motion. So this is not within the rules. I would say there's a motion, there's a second. There's no alternate motion on the table so we just vote on this motion in front of us. All right.

24:39So the motion that we're voting on is to close the public hearing and adopt the resolution. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Aye. That passes 6 to 1 with Councilwoman Lopez-Travas in opposition. All right. We will move on to item B7 which is an ordinance for the disposition of alleys and street text amendment before we begin taking comments.

25:08I'll turn the time over again to Brian Fulmer, Council policy analyst for a short introduction. Thank you, Madam Chair. This is a proposal initiated by the Planning Commission that would modify the section of city code related to city owned rights of way including alleys, streets and street segments. The proposal includes, among other things, closing rights of way to public use where the city retains ownership or vacating them which the city relinquishes ownership.

25:40Code currently includes the process and standards for alleys but standards for closing and vacating streets has not been codified. One notable change would treat partial street vacations adjacent to low density residential properties the same as alley vacations and not charge applicants for the vacated street property as is the current practice.

26:02Thank you. Thank you, Brian. Isak, will you start with our first public comment? There's no one here to speak to this item. Did anyone here want to speak to it? All right. I'll look for motion. Madam Chair, I move that the Council close the public hearing and defer acting to a future motion. I have a motion from Council member Dugan, second from Councilwoman Young, any discussion?

26:28All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That passes unanimously. All right. We will now move on to section C which is potential action items. C1 is an ordinance for a budget amendment number four for fiscal year 2526. I will look for a motion. Madam Chair, I move the Council adopt the remaining items in the budget amendment as opposed by the Administration and close the budget amendment.

26:54Second. There's an optional legislative intent, we're finding signage. I need to read all the rest of it yet. It's the intent of the Council that the Administration adopt a forward-looking policy on wayfinding signage for downtown parking. This process should highlight the amount of parking available while improving street level signage.

27:13The ultimate goal is to integrate digital tools for users available on phones and the signs themselves. Identify locations of public and private lots and provide real-time updates on the number of parking spaces available in specific locations. If I need to read the notes too. Yeah, no. Okay. That's a motion. Second. I have a motion from Council member Dugan and a second from Council member Puy.

27:39Any discussion to this motion? Yes. Madam Chair? Yes. Madam Chair, thank you. That intent is something that I, you know, through the discussions about the parking and meeting their requirements by the legislature, you know, downtown core and the goals of helping those that are driving in our city fine parking. We are hoping that the Administration can help us with a, you know, with a better solution and looking forward, especially with the events coming down.

28:14The pipe for Salt Lake City. So I appreciate everybody the support for that intent. Thank you. Councillor SRI's and Lopez Chavez. Thank you. No, I just wanted to echo this. I think there were lots of community concerns around the mobile command center and that center is very pragmatic for emergency management situations.

28:34There is really good data that shows us that this is evidence based practices to be able to mobilize folks. This is not an apparatus that is being used to armed police to go retaliate or profile in our community. So I just wanted to express how important it is to prepare for massive events and mass gatherings in our community.

28:53Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Wharton. Yes. Thank you. I just wanted to, can I propose a friendly amendment that we make one change to the budget that we would do 150 to keep the city for historic displays and 350 for Fisher Mansion. Yes. Do you accept that? I accept that. Okay. Do we need to restate the whole thing?

29:24Okay. Great. All right. So we are voting on the motion as proposed by Council Member Dugan, seconded by Puy with the friendly amendment for the Fisher Mansion and the local historic as articulated by Council Member Wharton. Council Member Wharton, can you just say your amendment again? I just want to make sure I understood it.

29:46Yes. So we had previously as a council straw pulled 100,000 for historic displays in the building looking into that a little bit more of the administration saying that they could do a lot more with 150 and that's kind of a make or break price. So I propose amending it from 100,000 to 150,000. Coming out of that specific line.

30:13Yes. Same. Yeah. So instead of 400 going to Fisher, it's 350. Got it. Thank you. Okay. And just for the record, it's item A20. Okay. A20. Council Member Puy? Yes. Quickly, I wanted to also thank everybody here on the Council for supporting the Madam. Thank you very much. I'm going to jump up from the Council side to the administration, 50,000 dollars for legal support for the community.

30:39You know, this creates a hundred thousand dollars of a fund from the city coming from the general fund to support those that require legal support. So that's a big deal. Any further comment? All right. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? That passes unanimously. All right. This brings us to new business. Item D1, it's a resolution for an alley vacation near 300 West and Paxton Avenue extension.

31:14I will look for a motion. My Madam Chair, I move that the Council adopt the resolution extending the time period to comply with the conditions in order 13 of 2025 for an additional 12 months. Second. I have a motion from Council Member Puy, a second from Council Member Wharton. Any discussion to the matter? All those in favor?

31:37Aye. Any opposed? That passes unanimously. Do we still have Council Member Lopez-Travas online? Yes, I may not. Did you want to record votes? Yes. Okay. All right. We'll now move on to unfinished business. We have a resolution for second issuance of the general obligation bonds for parks, trails, and open space improvements.

32:06I'll look for a motion. Madam Chair, I move that the Council adopt the resolution authorizing up to 51 million of the city's federally taxable general obligation bond series 2026 for parks, trail, and open space improvements. Second. I have a motion from Council Member Wharton, a second from Council Member Young. All those in favor?

32:26Aye. Any opposed? I would be in opposition. So that passes six to one. Our final item, F2, is a motion for the approval of conference travel per Council policy manual. I will look for a motion. Madam Chair, I move that the Council approve a tenor step to this year's National Association of Latino elected and appointed officials conference in Los Angeles.

32:58From Tuesday, July 14th, 2026 to Thursday, July 16th, 2026. Second. I have a motion from Council Member Dugan and a second from Council Member Young. Any discussion to this motion? All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? That passes unanimously. Did I miss a page? I think I missed a page. I was going to say I think I'm missing in our printout.

33:30That's the general comment and I was it pushed to the bottom? I think there was a page left out of the agenda here. Madam Chair? Yeah. Madam Chair, it's after the consent agenda. We have the only thing that- Between potential action items and new business, we should have had a comment section and it's not in the agenda.

33:56So we're going to move now. The general comments was moved to the end of the agenda after the consent items. Okay. This brings us to the consent portion of our agenda. I will look for a motion. Move for approval. Second. I have a motion from Council Member Porton and a second from Puy. Any discussion to the matter? All those in favor?

34:18Aye. Any opposed? That passes unanimously. We'll now move on to questions for the Mayor. Jill, thank you for being here from the Mayor's office. Anyone have questions for the Mayor's office? All right. We're now going to move on to the general comment portion of our agenda. This section is for the public to comment on any city business not scheduled for a public hearing.

34:43It is limited to a maximum of one hour and only to those who registered before 730. Our meeting rules apply to those general comments. To these general comments, please avoid disruptions or threats. We'll ask a staff member to assist you out of the meeting. Also as a reminder, comments that include profanity, personal attacks, intimidation, or discriminatory language are not persuasive or compelling.

35:03They're not helpful to create a respectful and safe environment. We'll be calling the names in order of signup. If you're on Zoom, please unmute your mic when your name is called. Each person will have two minutes to help make sure that as many people as possible can speak during the hour, anyone in person should feel free to come up and stand in line when you hear your name called.

35:21Please also avoid interruptions so that we can use the time for as many people to comment as possible. If you reach the two minute mark, the host will announce time and your microphone will be muted. If you need staff assistance in the room, please raise your hand and someone will be with you. If you're having technical assistance, if you have need of technical assistance in Zoom, message staff support and ask for Akshay from our staff.

35:43If you're unable to finish your comment, please share the rest via email, mail, or call our office. The information is listed at slc.gov.counsel. If you have a handout for the council, please notify council staff who will assist you. Esau, you can begin with our first general commenter. We have nine people registered to speak.

36:02First up is in Canada, sorry, in Canada, followed by Rose and then Jay. And you can go. Hi, everyone, in Canada District 2. So you can see the room is pretty empty today. Quite nice. That's because we decided to put the action on pause. So Kylie, Akina, myself, and Westside Brown-Barrays put the action on pause to await the working group and see what you guys offer and what comes out of that working group.

36:35The slowness definitely doesn't inspire confidence. However, I thought it was best to, I and other people in the group thought it was best to just see what you guys do. No point in demanding something when you're already doing something. So the group decided to ask for three actions from the community. The first one is we're going to do a Dem delegate caucus for Palestine and ICE abolition and supporting Canada to support both of those things via my new 501C4 called the Westside Assembly.

37:10We also call people to support the BLM, which is a new ICE watch network started by Westside Brown-Barrays. And finally, we're asking people to support other city council actions, which includes Ogden, Cottonwood Heights, and Bountiful. And you know, get out, support those folks who are pushing their city councils. And also if people are interested in supporting it, starting in their city to look at our toolkit and get started there.

37:39So I look forward to the working group details, nothing tonight, but I hope next time you guys tell us what's going on. Next, we have Rose followed by Jay and then Keckel Jones, all three in person. Rose, you can speak. I can already see Petra and Poley looking down because they don't want to look me in the eye while I'm saying this.

38:05You know me now. I've been coming here for six weeks. And I think that there's always some part of me that hopes, even though I gave up on all of you and everything like this a long time ago, there's always some part of me that hopes that if I plead to you, if I use, if I appeal to your humanity in some capacity that you'll listen to me, but you won't.

38:30And that's something that I constantly have my heart broken over. Every single time, all these years later, after so long after I gave up on you, it still hurts. We have made it so abundantly clear to you how much we hate this surveillance structure that is hurting our communities. And you don't even blink when you vote for a mobile command center.

38:56Not even a single part of you. None of you. Not even one nay to that. There's not one person in this room who raised a single objection to increasing the violence that is enacted upon our community. None of you. And that hurts because I still wish every day that I could wake up and be the little girl who believed that she lived in a democracy.

39:21But I don't. And that makes me really, really fucking sad because you're a bunch of fucking fascists. And the only thing you care about is serving the business interests that actually own this city and actually own this country. That makes me really sad. And I wish that there was something I could say that would appeal to you, that would make you see how much you're hurting us.

39:53But there isn't. There's nothing I can say. You've already decided who you serve. Next, we'll hear from Jay and then Caco Jones followed by Bernie Hart. Jay, you may speak. In Minnesota and Minneapolis Democrats loudly claim to oppose the siege and occupation of their community. And yet their state and city police have joined the Department of Homeland Security's animalistic savagery and dystopian surveillance against Minnesota.

40:31And now it comes to light that Democrats in Minnesota are in backroom negotiations with the Trump regime to deputize state and city police for federal immigration enforcement. While DHS rapidly spends hundreds of millions acquiring concentration camp warehouses in subpoenas the identities of their online critics. That is the context in which our Salt Lake city officials have just bought a mobile command center in additional surveillance rooms for SLCPD while claiming to oppose authoritarianism.

41:01The justifications given for this mobile command center rest on comically and transparently fringe use cases. The city might as well put out a Super Bowl ad claiming the mobile command center will help find our missing dogs. We've begged the city to use their many available legal options to protect us from DHS but they have slow-walked even our most symbolic demands.

41:22Certain council members claim they're willing to take a bullet to the face for the city which does make for a great soundbite, doesn't it? Especially when you reuse it at multiple events. But frankly all I hear on that is that these people would rather die than use any of their institutional power to actually do something material about the problem.

41:41No, instead they've used their institutional power to further militarize the cops despite record low crime in the city. Why do you think that is? The betrayal happening in Minnesota is all the answer you need. These snakes want the pigs armed for war against us in preparation to stab us in the back. Well, we have a right to arm ourselves too.

42:04Salt Lakers must launch a campaign of community organizing and labor organizing because we have no allies when our only options are the fascists in the Republican Party and these fascists before us here today. Next we will hear from Keiko Jones followed by Bernie Hart and then Co-AVE. Hello council members. My name is Keiko.

42:34Despite of a very recent unpleasant experience I had with the city, I'd rather be in this city than anywhere else in the state. And the state hates Salt Lake City. And I would like to kind of say something to these people who think you're a fascist and stuff. I want to say their heart is in the right place. I'm really encouraged by their courage and and enthusiasm.

43:17And I really, really hope they will take that energy to the governor and state officials because the city can do only so much before the state tries to ruin whatever the city wants to do. And just like Senator Nate Bulwin, yeah, he wanted to put some restrictions on ICE and then the state just crashed it. So I hope, you know, they will take their energy to the state and fight.

44:03Thank you. Thank you. There is no commenting. There is no commenting. Thank you. Everyone has the right to comment. Next please. We will hear from Bernie Hart followed by Quarry and then Eric Griffin. Bernie, you can go. Here I am again. I have people in our program. We're right out in front of this building four days a week.

44:51Rainer shows us now. We have a number of people live on the street in our program. I would like to refer them for services to somewhere in Salt Lake City for addiction issues and mental health issues. They are the people that nobody knows what to do with. They want to lock them up and put them in jail. As a matter of fact, there are people disappear every day and they come back to us after spending time in jail and that happens over and over again.

45:20I would like to be able to refer them to services. But I can find no service provider or government official in Salt Lake City or Salt Lake County that can tell me how well the programs work. No one. From the county, the mayor, I asked the service provider the other day and it was a mental addiction program about the efficacy of their program.

45:52They said the only way I was ever going to get information about how well their program worked was to file a grammar request for the county. And all I did was want to make a decision about where I should send somebody for help. I've been up here in standing here before and talked about the same issue and I'm back here again and I'm hoping I don't have to come here again.

46:16I hope somebody has it inside themselves to see what is going on in the city and where I can send people for help. And if I'm having trouble finding places to send people for help that I can depend on or know how well they work before I send them, then the parents of the city are in trouble too. So please do something.

46:42Okay. Thank you. Next we'll hear from CroVee followed by Eric Griffin who was online and then Haley Manfredi. CroVee you can speak. What was that name again? I believe it's Cro-E-V. Is there anyone here or online by that name? All right. We can come back to that after. Great. So next up will be Eric Griffin. Eric you may now unmute.

47:31Well, Greetings Council. Good to speak here again. I mostly want to speak on I'm trying to understand how civic engagement is supposed to work here. We have these two minute blocks to talk at you which is not discussion. And so for example this particular now contentious item we have this massive budget amendment with tons of provisions and it received heavy public comment in particular people focused on the mobile command center but then also there are other concerning elements as well.

48:07And you know it sounds like you know you delayed a vote and then it sounds like you did some research and then determined that actually this command center is good for public safety. But where's the transparency there? How do we get insight into your decision making process to understand what led you to support a vote suddenly approving the entire budget amendment with you know only one revision unrelated to the points of contention.

48:34And that like again going back to the mobile command center like I personally raised items of just physical responsibility. The proposal literally just says hey give us one million dollars for a mobile command center. For a specific item like that I would expect to see like a comparison of vendors like a proposed you know comparison of features a breakdown of how that money will be spent.

48:59Not just give us one million dollars and that to me is very concerning that that just went through like that. And additionally concerning and I raised this question last time but again it's like it doesn't feel like there's a lot of back and forth where and this was actually approved and by council member Poit last week approved some of the budget items which included literally doubling the overtime budget for the police for the year right it was 3.7 million was the original budget and then we added 3.8 million dollars to the overtime budget.

49:33Like I'm trying to understand does that mean that we seriously don't know how to budget for the year or something. So next next we'll hear from Haley Monfetti followed by Travis Bird and then we can switch but we can go back to Corvie if they still want to speak. Haley you up. We can see the ice is specifically targeting people of color.

50:09Ice is targeted citizens and non-citizens. Ice is targeted indigenous people who've lived on this land since before we had colonized it. Ice is tactics are similar to how the police are trained to target black and brown people whether or not they've committed the crimes that they are charged with. The police and ICE are working to complete the same goal which is to fill our prisons with slaves to do free labor, make a statement to cause fear and mass panic and to kill off as many vulnerable people as they can.

50:43You control the city budget. You have the power to create and fund city programs to help people and yet you choose to give extra funds to the police to give them budgets for overtime and to increase surveillance. My community and I have asked you to protect us. Instead you choose to increase funding to the slave captures who cause physical emotional and systemic harm to our most vulnerable.

51:11Our federal government is full of trial break best human traffickers and murderers and while you ignore those atrocities you continue to increase resources for the police officers who target working class people. You are protecting this bi-al system instead of the people in this city. Help the people not the system. It's time to abolish ICE and the police.

51:36In Michelle Alexander's novel, the new Jim Crow, she states, throughout our nation's history, when crime and immigration have been perceived as white, our nation's response has been radically different from when those phenomenon have been the finest black or brown. The system of mass incarceration and mass deportation may seem entirely unrelated at first glance but they are both deeply rooted in our racial history.

52:03And they both have been expanded in part because of the enormous profits to be made of controlling. Thank you. Next we will hear from Travis Booth. Hi everybody. First of all, we are the mayor and our staff in the city council. You guys are going to have a hard job next year. When AJ did that ban that comes to Utah Jazz, you guys are going to be working on parade routes and championships.

52:43I just pray that you guys did enough security to protect me so nobody ducked state over me when the city is rocking and the jazz are back to being champions. I just want to say God bless you. When is the mayor going to be here? I want to make a park, the Monet show park. I have a still with everything I want to show. Do you know when to be here so I can show her that?

53:06It's his birthday is coming up. All right. Thank you. God bless. Thank you. Thank you to everyone who came to comment. And with that, our formal meeting is concluded.