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It's that like your family budget, we have to make that crucial decisions on what gets funded and what bills gets paid for, right? Because whatever we decide today, we have to pay again down the future. And then people forget that there's all these costs and there's all these new bills and new ideas, wonderful ideas, free tuition for the University of Hawaii. this from that. Um, but that then affects our our K through 12, right? Because whatever monies goes somewhere else, they'll go. So hopefully when people come and testify, they can tell us where these monies might come from other than taxing the rich more because there's only so much you can tax the rich. Where where is the money going to come? Like in your household, where is the money going to come from when you only have x amount of dollars? I I I I admire what you guys do because it's a tough love situation.
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You got to tell them what it is, right? There's a line outside that door asking for money. We're not the only guys. Come Friday when you see all the people want Gas. And the party's only so big. That's the reality. So, what's the priority? No Gas and just let's go do I mean, that's fine. I can't do that. But then, you know, you have you have nonprofits and you have um you know, safety nets groups that are supporting other facets of our community, our seniors, our disabled, you know, there's so many other needs that how do we prioritize? I I think it's we have to internalize that in the department of education and I I know superintendent Hayashi has has challenged us to say hey guys this is not an unlimited pop which is why I have so much concerns about spending a million dollars for a kindergarten assessment as much as that might be nice to have kindergarten assessment that's good for one year compared to feeding the kids is to me that's the kinds of decisions that the OE has to come up with and and I've I've heard you many times.
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I've heard Senator Kedani and everybody else. Why are we spending this amount of money on consultants? Exactly. What's the value proposition? I think the kindergarten assessment state is required for the Yes, by us too, but we can change that. We're finding out that a million dollars. That's not what we had anticipated. I mean, recently we went and took care of a school on the Big Island that has a mold mitigation issue. So I just send my crew from Honolulu say listen guys we can do this with our own internal operation. What that does is the margin that would have gone to a contractor is not there. Our guys and and they've done a real good job of it. Uh so so it's the changing of the mentality and the dynamics. But back to your question, how do we fund this without putting additional strain on the state's budget?
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We have that obligation to do that. So we're working hard at that. um you know it regarding the the uh meals for the charter school we've had started discussions with and they have some limitations on what they can do. Can we take advantage of the critical mass that we have and that's part of the whole central kitchen idea. Do they need a kitchen or can we cook and chill and deliver meals to them? Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. [Music] Okay.
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Any questions? Not to our final item on this agenda. House Bill 500 relating to education appropriates funds to DOE to promote surfing as an intercolastic sport. to testify. Superintendent, please. Good afternoon, chair and vice chair, members of committee. Um on behalf of the department, Ray Fujino again standing in um offering comments. Oh, you want the Sorry. Okay. Sorry about that. Um, so the the comments right currently only Maui ML Maui is Scholastic League offers surfing and there's six public schools within that league. So, um, if this bill were to pass, it would only support those six schools on Maui. Northern leagues, um, on Kawaii, on Big Island, and Aahu have adopted surfing as a intercolastic sport, questions. Go ahead. So, um, this bill is not saying that the schools all have to do it. No, it's only talking of um for funding, but we have a process in place to for schools to request and adopt the new sports within the leagues.
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The purpose of the staff is to appropriate funds to the Department of Education to promote and support such as sport. So, we're not asking you guys to So what would this be in the line of your priorities in line priorities for our department or for athletics for schools and it would not be one of our priorities. Other questions members? So Rey, my question is when how long has this uh mommy school been doing surfing? [Music] I have to check exactly, but I think at least about 10 years. Did not know that. So do they do any national competitions? Not um from this from this league to the national. Yes, that's totally separate. The national competitions would be individuals going on their own through clubs. Yes. Okay. But it is from school to school. Correct. And currently um like I gave you an example on Aahu and OA the process would be like for schools to request and institute a new sport.
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It would require uh majority of the principles the voting member principles which is 12 out of 23 to say yes to a new sport. And then for us to hold a new sport, you would have to have at least eight schools participating in that sport u to begin the sport. Have you guys have you guys asked the schools have they voted on it? Yes, we've had in the past um it would it would come from a member school. So member schools would bring it up at a principal's meeting. Um the last time there was interest, there was about six schools that were interested. Um, but it did not go to a motion for a vote or anything. Okay. On Aahu at least. I'm I'm not sure about the Big Island at Kawaii. Thank you. Okay. Is there currently a process for promotion of high school athletic sports that the DOE does?
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Currently, the the DOE would not be um involved in that process. It would be like in the league realm. Okay. Yeah, thank you. If there are no further questions, we're going to release this to [Music] reconvene. ing the committee on education. Members, after we vote, we are heading for next door for a a joint meeting with public safety. So um on this agenda for House Bill 54 relating to education establishing a nationally certified school psychologist incentive program. Recommendation uh of the chair is going to be to defer this measure. House Bill 1412 relating to libraries. Recommendation of the chair is going to be to pass with amendments. Um, we're going to delete academic libraries, research libraries, and special libraries from the definition of library on page two. We're al also going to ask the AG to provide their comments so that we can send them along to the next committee uh judiciary and also the librarian's comments to um the existing contracts would not be affected and also to add in in the amendment that the libraries cannot make printed copies or school libraries.
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Yes. And it's defective already. Um, House Bill 540. I'm sorry. So, House Bill 1412. Uh, chair votes I to pass with amendments. House Bill 1412 H21 pass with amendments. Chair vice chair. Hi Senator Reservations. Thank you for House Bill 540. The recommendation of the chair is to defer this. However, I'm asking the Department of Education to look at something else and rather rather than deny all the children who need breakfast and lunch that can't afford it but are not on the list to receive it. So, it's it's by school. Every principal makes that decision when a family falls in hard time or something, whatever. And you guys are going to have to use your discretion on that. I don't know what the cost is going to be, but I think we need to do something for that gap group. Thank you. Um, House Bill 500, uh, relating to education and appropriates funds to DOE to promote surfing.
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Again, the recommendation of the chair is to defer because according to DOE, you guys can do this already if the principles choose to do so. Thank you. So, is that it? Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, we had another we had another agenda from a previous meeting. Um, so this was the meeting of March 15th for House Bill 960HD1. This is relating to to the school facilities authority um to transfer the $200,000 of general funds previously appropriated. Recommendation is to pass this with amendments. Uh to clarify that the appropriation for the school facilities special fund shall be for fiscal year 2023 2024 rather than the 2022 2023 on lines five and nine questions. Chair vzai pass with amendments. Hi. Thank you. And the last one for House Bill 961HD1 related to early learning. Uh recommendation uh is to pass with amendments to defect the date to July 1, 20150.
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Chair Bai recommendation HB961 pass amendments. Any member voting? Any members? Thank you. And again, we have another meeting joint hearing in next door. Thank you.
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uh I call this meeting to order at 7 00 PM welcome to the March 23rd 2022 electronic meeting of the environmental commission this meeting is in accordance with executive orders from the governor to affect social distancing and mitigate the spread of the covid-19 virus we intend to conduct this meeting similarly to an in-person meeting however please be patient if there are technical issues public comment will be via telephone only to speak during any of the public comment opportunities please call 877-853-5247 and enter meeting ID 922-96-96-1644 [Music] this information is also available on the published agenda in the Public Notices section of the city website and on the broadcast of this meeting on CTN Channel 16 18 T channel 99 and online at www.a2gov.org slash watch CTN okay uh do you want to start with the land acknowledgment Sean sure here I acknowledge that the land the city of Ann Arbor occupies is the ancestral traditional and contemporary lands of the anishinabe including Odawa Ojibwe and badewadmi and YN dot peoples I further acknowledge that our city stands like almost all property in the United States on lands obtained generally in unconscionable ways from indigenous peoples The Taking of this land was formalized by the Treaty of Detroit in 1807 knowing where we live work study and recreate does not change the past but a thorough understanding of the ongoing consequences of this past can Empower us and our work to create a future that supports human flourishing and justice for all individuals thank you Sean um let's proceed to the Roll Call sorry we just had another panelist comments I'll just promote them all right all right um council member Ekman here Ann Arbor thank you uh chairperson Brown president in Ann Arbor thank you commissioner Keller work here thank you uh commissioner Curtis here Ann Arbor thank you commissioner Dale right uh council member dish here Indiana thank you commissioner Gabe Randall here in Ann Arbor thank you commissioner Graham here's Ann Arbor thank you uh commissioner Gruber all right uh commissioner mursky here in my home in Ann Arbor thank you uh Vice chairperson Mitchell you're in Ann Arbor thank you commissioner netridge Aaron Ann Arbor thank you and uh commissioner oriel all right um commissioner wahing all right um and let me count heroin that is a quorum great thank you Sean uh the next item on the agenda is approval of this agenda um do I have a motion to uh the agenda is written um Shannon um any discussion okay hearing and seeing new um no desire for discussion um all who approve of the agenda as submitted raise your hands aye any uh or say aye any uh Nays any abstentions okay that was uh the agenda as submitted was passed universally uh unanimously uh so uh the next item on the agenda is the approval of the minutes from our previous meeting which was held on March 10th um uh the February meeting was postponed until March 10th so do I have a motion to review the agenda minutes uh Lisa dish and then uh seconds um any discussion or suggested amendments all right um all who approve the minutes of the March 10th meeting raise your hand and say aye aye any opposed any abstentions okay here in C9 so the minutes are approved unanimously as well um the next item on the agenda is public commentary this is an opportunity for persons to speak for up to three minutes please call 877 [Music] 853-5247 and enter meeting ID 922-9696-1644 [Music] this meeting this information is also displayed on the meeting agenda and video feed City staff will select callers that have raised their hand one by one using the last three digits of your phone number in order to electronically raise your hand to indicate your desire to speak please press star nine on your phone you will hear an automated announcement that the host is allowing you to speak when speaking please move to a quiet area and mute any television or background sounds so that we may hear you clearly please state your name and address at the beginning of your comments uh and be patient there can be a delay of up to 30 seconds before a connection is established and once again you may call [Music] 877-853-5247 or 312-626-6799 and enter meeting ID 922-9696-1644 [Music] uh do we have anybody online yet uh we do we have eight uh phone call on listeners and two hands raised so I will go ahead and allow phone number ending in two four five okay uh 245 it looks like you are muted so if you could unmute can you hear me yes we can thank you yes thank you I'm Kathleen Murphy I live at 3 15.
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come on he tell you anything in your ears guys yes Mr Marconi hello like to open the regularly scheduled meeting of the Clifton Board of Education for Thursday March the 23rd 2023.
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Good evening. We'll get the meeting underway. Um, first agenda item is the pledge of allegiance and I believe Mr. Ser is here from North Elementary. Good evening. I want to welcome Maple Meers from North Elementary to come up. I was going to tell a little bit about Maple. So, Maple's actually been at North Grove her entire educational career. She's a fifth grade student though in our fifth grade e Mr. Surpico's fifth grade e class. So you probably didn't know Maple's face before right now. But if you've been to I don't know tried and true, Great Clips, Needler's Market, Walmart, who knows where else in the last month, you've probably she's a familiar face. No, she does not have part-time jobs there, but I think she has sold thousands and thousands of Girl Scout cookies outside of these places. So maybe didn't rise, but I promise you, you have seen her in the last month because I've seen her everywhere with not even at school at those places.
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is he gonna change the lights good evening everyone my name is Autumn Brown and I will be your mistress of Ceremonies tonight thank you so much a round of applause and all I said was my name this is a good start I am recently retired from teaching drama 25 years at Brookhurst Junior High School and now that I'm retired I can pursue my two favorite passions one my love of theater and second my love of not getting up to an alarm clock every day everyone to the second annual auhsd soapbox speak finals to get us started I'd like to introduce our student ambassador who will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance Ari Cardenas [Applause] [Music] [Applause] please rise to your right hand over your heart ready begin I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God individual liberty and justice for all thank you thank you this competition provides our students a voice to share their issues that are important to them under the guidance of our superintendent Michael matsuda the Anaheim Union High School District is a recognized leader both Statewide and nationally for its innovative work in the area of Civic engagement we have more designated California democracy schools in our district than any other District in the state of California thank you so to share a few words on that issue and more please welcome our assistant superintendent of Educational Services Jaren freed om thank you autumn well good evening everyone happy Thursday right well I am excited to be here with all of you tonight uh this is always one of the events that I look forward to most and I know Miss Brown just celebrated our 17 out of the 20 schools that are California tomorrow schools but we found out today we now have an 18th School I want to congratulate Mr Lara is in the house and our friends at Gilbert High School our newest California democracy school and just so you know the other we have two more schools that are being visited within the next uh I think week or two so our hope is that we'll have our our 19th and our 20th California school within a few weeks now tonight before we begin I want to acknowledge a few special guests that are with us this evening I know our superintendent is out there somewhere Mr Michael mansooty is out there so thank you Mike for being here we also have our board president Brian O'Neal who is here with us and I think our trustee Guerrero will be here shortly she's also planning to be here as well you know as a district I love the fact that we're able to create spaces for our students to create and have these kinds of experiences where they can bring in as Adam said the issues that they care about in the classroom where our teachers our amazing teachers find ways to connect it to their content and allow students of space to really Elevate their voice in our district we really believe in elevating our students voice where they can find out who they are what they believe in and how they fit in this world we also want to empower them and equip them with the skills that are to be necessary to navigate through what life throws their way we call those the five C's and we also want to connect again to the content the technical skills the hard skills you might see in a classroom when you look at those three things together that is what really generates the the type of student that we want to create so that way they can create the better world that we live in our vision to create a better world through the unlimited you now when you see the soapbox speeches that are happy tonight I want you to recognize the sophistication our students and our teachers had to put in place to make that happen right you think about the 5 you're going to see them in action tonight now as they come up here just know they're gonna be talking about very different topics that are very personal to them we ask that when you listen you listen with an open mind and appreciate the sophistication and the research and the hard work they put in to their soapbox beaches so with that I do want to do a few quick awesome acknowledgments I want to make sure we recognize the amazing teachers that are here that created the space for our students to actually do the soapbox speeches in their classroom so thank you teachers we have a few soapbox coaches that have been helping our students as well uh Bijan kazroni where are you here you go the lights are really bright but it is hard we also have Autumn Brown who's been helping our students as well and then I know he's not here but I want to acknowledge Kent canals he is also a retired teacher who's done a lot of great work in this area and he has spent time coaching our students and our staff as well so thank you Ken please make sure I send him my best and then also take a moment to thank our judges for being here uh we'll introduce him at the end but thank you for being here to watch observe in in the value of our students as they perform tonight and they're still Fox beaches with that I'm going to turn back over to AutoZone thank you so much enjoy your evening well as Dr Fried said joining us tonight are an amazing panel of Judges who give have the challenging job of trying to decide in each of our categories Junior High and high school the third second and first place finalists the winners so judges please introduce yourselves your name what is your role in our district and maybe a sentence or two about something you're passionate about an issue that's important to you our speakers have three minutes you have 30 seconds thank you good evening everyone my name is Diana fujimota I'm coordinator of professional learning I'm really excited to be here um and I think maybe something that I'm very passionate about is just being good stewards of our resources and you know making sure that we're using our resources wisely little things that we can do in our everyday routine that can add up to Big impacts in our world hi good evening my name is Katie Childers I serve as the math curriculum specialist here at the district prior to that I actually was a teacher here at Lawrence it's great to be home once a Saxon always a Saxon an issue that is near and dear to me would be human rights hi everyone my name is Regina Powers I am your District librarian and if you can guess what my issue would be it would be you know get rid of the phone and pick up a real book judges our judges are looking as our speakers present first is content is the issue clearly explained delivery body language facial expressions gestures structure and style is the speech organized does it interest the audience does It capture their attention and does the speaker offer any solutions do you know that a study was done many many years ago that asked people what are you afraid of and people answered things like moving and divorce spiders clowns the number one thing that people said they were afraid of was speaking in front of a group of people the number two thing people were afraid of was dying people would rather die than get up in front of a group and speak in front of an audience so we are our young people are to be applauded tonight for coming up and overcoming that fear they each have an issue that they want to share with us so to get us started let's give them a wild Round of Applause Just to give them some encouragement we will begin with our Junior High speakers then take a 10 minute break and then continue with our high school presenters so let us begin very pleased to introduce to you from Walker Junior High Rachel Choi [Applause] good evening my name is Rachel Choi 2020 Alone Together facing a Google pandemic our connections may have varied but we cannot know the fact that all of humanity went to the same covid-19 struggles the same set of worries the same panic over toilet paper and the need to wear protect the face mask now after quarantine the requirement burn Mass has been listed yes some still choose to wear it there are so many reasons for this however the most common is because of insecurities for some wearing masks have made them so insecure their own face that they refused to have their mask off in public even when they're starving or dying of heat oh she's a two out of 10 without a mask and maybe a six out of 10 with one you may ask why does a mask make a person more attractive it's because the world has evolved in America in this Western beauty standards noses seems small and Slimmer teeth feel perfect and eyes appear maker for people who have different cultures The Beauty Center is genetically impossible to fulfill everything revolves around Beauty being pretty or handsome your social image determines the level of acceptance and success in society and All-American beauty is a thin white woman with a high small nose and big blue eyes in fact South Korea is heavily influenced by these standards as reported by dream of Publishers 44 occurrinas use Caucasian models and local models do not often appear in global Brands ads in Korea this this sense an underlying message that Western faces are desired despite the fact that this ideal is usually genetically unattainable leading to Common surgical procedures in Korea appealing to Western Beauty Senate the most common being Rhino classes and double eyelid surgeries the definition beauty isn't limited to One race a world where all eye shapes Styles and bodies are beautiful a world where it's easier for a colored woman to look through catalogs and magazines and find someone they can relate to to find a deep understanding of themselves and embrace their culture because resting beauty standards create such unreachable expectations for diverse cultures societies should challenge the cultural center Beauty implies a reachable more inclusive one with the help of social media we can start by spreading awareness and increasing diverse representation in the media according to greater good a new report reveals that films or diverse characters actually make more money at the box office and when Oscars having a variety of beauty centers will eliminate a toxic mindset of beauty expectations and change our one-dimensional views of beauty expectation beauty is an important aspect to the human's everyday lives it's everywhere it's essential and when Beauty centers start to change the world we will be able to see in Shades of Gray no today I Rachel Choi won't let the beauty centers control me in fact I am my own standard of beauty thank you Rachel Rachel Rachel come on back just for a sec and everyone all our speakers will receive a trophy of participation but we are off to a great start judges let me know when you're ready for the next speaker next up from Orange view Junior High ER shalabi [Applause] picture in your head a mother cooking dinner smells of lamb rice and soup walk through the house children lay on deep red couches watching an old but functional TV when the youngest asks suddenly a bomb hits just blocks away the explosions go on for weeks as soldiers stormed the streets of their once quiet Town innocent lives are taken thousands are injured and many are forced to leave when I told you the pictures what country did you imagine most likely you thought of a horrible invasion of Ukraine but when I think of this I think of my homeland Palestine imagining my war-torn countries a no-brainer for me but for most it's basically unheard of why why is it that you could turn on the TV and you hear about Ukraine why is that I could ask a random person in this room and they would know the output of support for Ukraine is amazing but I can't help but think why not Palestine the occupation in Palestine causes fear death and suffering in 1947 Israel first started their occupation of Health which has lasted for more than 70 years in the first year alone more than 000 people were forced to leave their homes towns were quickly emptied and destroyed leaving no hope of return for these innocent families since 1947 this conflict has shown no signs of stopping and in fact in 2023 it only gets worse less than a month ago six people were killed in a raid of a refugee camp in February 11 people were killed in the city of Nevis that same day 100 people were Gravely wounded in a city called hot water homes are charred black windows are smashed and businesses were burned have you seen a single headline of these in the media in on news on Twitter on Instagram did you even know that all three of the examples that I gave to you just now happened in 2023 alone we are less than three months in why does nobody care in August of 2021 Israel started bombing process in the first few days alone 120 people died quarter of those people were children under 12 years old social media blew up hashtag free Palestine was chanting and people started talking about our struggle and I allowed myself to Hope I thought that this media attention would get help to those who need it I thought that whenever I told someone I was from Palestine I wouldn't be met with what's that but just as soon as everyone's Side Care everything went our struggles are not a trend it is not some way for you to get popular nor will it disappear simply because you posted a hashtag not only is there a glaring absence Palestine in the media it seems as though we are hated that we are seen as uncivilized as violent one reporter on ITV News said now the unthinkable has happened and this isn't a third world developing Nation this is Europe the wording makes it seem like oh Europe is a pristine area with no savagery no violence but everywhere else it's to be uncom in conflict expected to kill each other expected for you to not know where your next meal will come from and this isn't the only recorder that thinks that white death is more tragic than air of death a reporter on the Sunday Telegraph said they seem so much like us that's why it's so surprising this is Europe yes the Ukrainian invasion is horrible the atrocities being committed left and right but I can't help but be jealous why does nobody care for us we need to make media know that all war is equally violent and equally destructive if we could remember the countless people who suffer on a daily basis who get killed on a daily basis then we could get help to those who need it please protest speak up make sure that we are as talked about as countries such as Ukraine if you want to post make sure you participate in long-term activism donate sign petitions but do not forget us do not forget that we exist that we are humans with dreams aspirations and lives and we are able to do this as once said we are all born with generosity kindness and a love for others in our we are all moved by Injustice and we are all inside human beings my name is Hayes I am proud to be Palestinian and even when the media goes silent I will not [Applause] next up from Lexington Junior High I'm very pleased to introduce Jacob Lee [Applause] Ariel Anderson is a student at Michigan State University who wants to be a surgeon after graduating college Eva Morales he's a fourth grade teacher at Rob Elementary School who loves running fighting and her family Valentino Marco zavaro is a hospital worker who hopes to return to the Philippines after retirement what did these people have in common they're that because the machines Michigan Texas and California their hopes love and pursuit of dreams have been robbed forever hello my name is Jacob Lee and I'm talking to you about the importance of gun control we we are about gun crimes and innocent deaths every day everywhere even in your neighborhood it is a persistent and advancing issue in our society costing nearly 35 million sharp federal state and local governments each day we should spend this waste money on Education Health Care and establishing better communities and working conditions so I'm going to Advocates claim that guns are mostly used for self-defense and personal security however One Federal study found that of the total number of violent crimes communication 2007 and 2011 less than one percent victims protected themselves Visions fire on firearms this gives us no doubt that Firearms are rarely used in self-defense so now imagine imagine a world where Ariel Anderson Eva Morales and Valentino Marco zavara are still alive and were police officers don't have to train from our shootings 500 people a day die from Guns globally and at this rate at the end of this year we could reach over 182 000 people that six times the number of students in the Anaheim Union High School District gun crimes can happen anywhere and to anyone anyone you know anyone you admire anyone you maybe hate and anyone you love can be a victim in once your moments the majority of gun owners agree with common sense control such as the background check where mandatory waiting period after purchasing gone also a smartphone technology that uses Biometrics to identify contractual owners and prevent guns from being abused is in progress then what can we do contact your Congressman regarding gun legislation and you take unsafe to classes ultimately and most importantly what one thing you can do is to educate others about how significant gun control is in our society there's a saying which every time I hear motivates and encourages me if not me then who and it's not now then when this eventually brought me onto the stage and now I am strongly appealing to you to join me thank you [Applause] now from Sycamore Junior High please welcome Dulce Rodriguez [Applause] beep beep beep for the average person that is the sound of an alarm clock a sound that simply represents the start of a new day but for students that struggle with mental health that is the start of a daily struggle you struggle to get out of bed he struggled to get ready for school you struggle to have a productive day many students struggle with their mental health and the worst part about this is that many of these students deal with their mental health alone students who deal with mental health are not getting the help they need mental health among the youth is also on the rise to further demonstrate in an article titled teen mental health facts and statistics it mentions that cases of major depression among teens ages 16 and 17 have risen by an overwhelming 69 percent mental health among students is an important issue that needs to be addressed there have been times where I myself have struggled with my mental health in the moment I had to keep telling myself I was okay even though I knew I was not students who struggle with mental health are often viewed as being lazy or irresponsible for not trying their best in school but is it really their fault can you really blame them imagine having the mentality of each day waking up not knowing if you're going to get through the day imagine being worried or nervous the whole day not knowing if something bad is going to happen students who struggle with mental health are just trying to survive the day that is the only thing on their mind imagine a world where every student came to school ready to learn ready to socialize and ready to have a good day imagine a world where every student had a positive view of themselves and their and their environment imagine a world where every student is trying their best in school and as happy as can be this is how the world would look like if mental health was not a thing with the right resources we can help students overcome their battles with mental health the tools we have to work on this issue are the counselors here at school talking with the counselor might be scary at first but they're a great help when you need someone to talk to another resource we have are therapists therapists of great help when you when you need to let your emotions out in a positive way I need you to remind those affected by their mental health that they have helped for resources around them and that it's okay to reach out for help I need teachers to be more patient with students and take their feelings into consideration for those that are currently struggling with their Mental Health you can you can participate in activities that relax your mind and body such as joining Sports engaging in arts and crafts and joining Hobbies in the end if you are currently struggling with your mental health please remember you are not alone we are in this together thank you [Applause] good work don't say for the last three minutes she was the bravest person in the room [Applause] from Ball Junior High please welcome nylea Amos [Applause] hi my name is nylea and today I am talking to you about the n-word and racism in schools this is going to be uncomfortable but this has been a big issue at my school and other schools in Anaheim so we have to be brave and address it in 2022 a survey of 80 ball junior high students was conducted over 95 percent reported hearing the n-word multiple times on a daily basis using both a casual way and aggressively toward black students I was one of those students who had to go through this the mental and emotional tool this has taken on me is overwhelming I come home Angry disappointed and Confused literally over 400 years of horror abuse and segregation all packed into only one word and these kids will say it so casually do they even know what it means do you know how much pain is tied up with that word do you know how much hatred is in that word this is why I knew I needed to say something the n-word is not just a word used in rap music it's not a cool thing to say it is a word that encourages racism it can even lead to the killings of black people people who look like me my family my friends who I love people fail to realize that the mistreatment and Injustice of black people is closer to home than one realizes this caused unruly times upon black people but unless you're black you get the pleasure to turn a blind eye but in the U.S this is real time daily every second we breathe air this is our reality my reality other family's reality what has been done to address this issue and advisory our principal gave an announcement about how unacceptable racial slurs are being used on campus specifically the n-word after that anemone was sent out to all families on how they can educate their child against using racial slurs black people make up less than five percent of the student population in the Anaheim Union High School District even though we make up a small number we deserve to be respected and to feel safe when we come to school so my question to you is this what are you doing to amplify the voices of black students at your school what are you doing to protect black students thank you foreign [Music] [Applause] please welcome Sophia Morello from Brookhurst Junior High [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you're taught that doctors are heroes that are that provide consistent Equitable care for all patients after all they do take a Hippocratic Oath promising to do no harm however studies of racial bias in the medical system demonstrate that equal care is not guaranteed for all patients even though it should be today I want to talk to you about racism in the Healthcare System the reason that this is such a big issue is that is affecting millions of people worldwide seeking services from Cancer Care to prenatal care we can trace this issue back to the 1900s when it falls three called Eugenics claimed that black people's bodies were built differently than white people's bodies this Theory held that black people's lungs can take more damage that their skulls were smaller but their blood clotted more easily and that black people face pain less severely than white people this medical bias still exists today a 2016 study of the University of Virginia medical students revealed that as many as 40 percent still believe the myth that black people's skin is thicker and less sensitive than white people's skin but we must guarantee equal care for all patients a study of at four medical academic centers across the country physicist Physicians self-recorded no racial advice towards us by patients however after completing an implicit bias test those same healthcare workers showed significant bias believing that black people were less likely to comply with medical recommendations resulting in Better Care and Pain Management for white patients but we must guarantee equal care for all patients the tools we have to work on this are simple we need more doctors of color imagine a world where the percentage of black doctors is the same as the percentage of its black citizens according to the association of American medical colleges only four percent of U.S doctors are black while 13 of the U.S population identifies as black so let's start identifying those Medical those medical experts early programs such as the medical Cruise pathway between berkerson's event is a great start and also Avid a course that I have been imparted for the last two years helped 7th through 12th grade students with the rigorous coursework needed to to be in the medical field and also we need to invest in more scholarships for black students wanting to be in the medical profession and also as a country we need to provide more Equitable workspaces that build advancement opportunities for people of color but I also want you every person sitting down and standing up in this room right now to educate yourselves about this problem race in the healthcare system won't disappear overnight only with dedicated Collective and coordinated effort can we start to dismantle destructions of repression once we bring this issue into the public eye doctors will one day save as many black lives as white lies because we must guarantee equal care for all patients thank you [Applause] from Oxford Junior High please welcome Camilla tow [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] growing up observed how women and my family have ended their generations of pain and Trauma simply because they're Asian woman living in a white male-centered side my name is Camilla toe and in my traditional Asian household girls are taught to dismiss rude comments instead of standing upward ourselves unfortunately these stereotypes these values lead to stereotypes about how Asian women are invisible and submitted doormats in which these Asian women go on to disregard racist sling and towards their active or appearance in their day-to-day lives when the issue of casual racism is not addressed on the everyday level it can even escalate towards violence for example an elected Spa shooting of 2020 six Asian female employees were freely shot by a white gunman although the gunman claimed that his actions were not racially motivated but caused by sexual addiction the rising pattern of Asian hate crimes during the pandemic would prove otherwise to no one's a prize the gunman's actions were seemingly excused by the captain of the Sheriff's Office who asserted that the gunman was having a really bad day according to the New York Times throughout history the American government has been designed from the very beginning to school women of Asian descent oh [Applause] as Isabella Oishi stated in the did you know that the pitch art Act of 1875 restricted in Asian immigration on a second basis that Asian women were profiled as prostitutes and that the introduction of their sex work but during the moral Integrity of the American people as Isabella Oishi wrote In The Georgetown law review terms such as the military man evolved alongside emerging racist descriptions such as Lotus Flower and Dragon Lady which hypersexualized women of Asian descent fully to serve as an EcoBoost that feeds onto the white savior complex that possessed American military men at that time these present day and historical events demonstrate a long-standing problem deep-rooted in American society where most government officials generally dismiss racism towards people of color or sex them towards women if they make it a point to educate themselves on the ongoing history of anti-aging violence towards women this can lead way to challenge the Discrimination that Asian American women face daily yeah if to maintain this welcoming and inviting atmosphere for new generation of Asian girl controlling feel comfortable in their own skin I encourage all of you to start these open conversations with your family friends and loved ones so that girl not only of Asian descent but of all minority groups can start speaking up and making themselves feel more seen in a place that's tried so hard to make them feel invisible thank you foreign [Applause] Junior High please welcome Ella City Mohammed [Applause] [Music] hello I'm Alex Muhammad and I'm rocking that's usually how I introduce myself as an immigrant moving to America definitely caused some transatlantic shock to me where I'm from we don't have as much fast food as we do in America we don't have as much taxes to do in America and we definitely don't allow guns in my country A Guy Walks down the street with a knife he can get arrested here pretty much anyone can get their hands on a gun but hey who am I to judge I mean 12 kids do die every day in this country due to gun violence but this is a land of the free I mean CNN did report more than 600 mass shootings last year alone in this country but it's your second amendment I mean the CDC did announce the leading cause of death for teenagers is gun related injuries but but what you need a gun to protect yourself weapons are a part of your culture it's your right to bear arms and not my right to feel safe no wonder why the whole world stereotypes Americans is violent and you can't even blame them according to the Washington Post there are more than 393 million guns in the United States that's more guns than there are people in this country and yet some say it's not a problem let me put this into perspective for you in August 1997 cpsc conducted a recall on a very dangerous threat to children put their lives in danger so much so it was banned from the U.S the threat was a toy Kinder egg the very same year a 14 year old opened fire on a prayer group in his high school injuring and killing some of those teenagers the threat was a 22 LR pistol do you think that a toy can direct serves more of a threat to a child's life than a 22LR pistol ridiculous you want your little siblings to go to school excited for recess for their friends to eat lunch with their friends not to have to practice a safety drill in case a bad guy decides to show up to school one day in case their class becomes another story in the news as Senator Chris Murphy once said it is a choice to let it continue it is a choice to speak up it is a choice to educate yourself it is a choice to acknowledge that this is a massive problem we can stop this we cannot force gun laws we can stop protecting gun manufacturers we can create a culture of gun safety we can stop easy access these weapons but we have to act now 106 people are shot and killed in the U.S every day so think about it tomorrow be your mom your dad your sister your brother one of your friends classmates co-workers tomorrow could very well be you so if you're not thinking how can I fix this what can I do then you might as well be thinking which one of us is next thank you [Applause] our final Junior High speaker comes from South please welcome Caitlin Flores Rojas [Applause] [Music] women's rights what is women's rights many people may think of many different things when it comes to women's rights some people believe women should have rights others believe that they shouldn't hi my name is Caitlin Flores Rojas and I'm a student from South Junior High School I would like to come up here today to talk to you about women's rights and the importance of it it is so important to learn and spread awareness about this topic because not many people speak up about it I believe that women should have the right to vote speak their minds and do all of that but they don't mainly men are the ones who have the rights and women don't women's are the ones that have to struggle getting the rights to do stuff that they do we are still fighting to get our rights each and every day this isn't right and we have to put a stop to this nearly 2.4 billion women around the world don't have the same economic rights as men 2.4 billion I was in shock when I saw this number the amount of women that don't have the same economic rights as men is insane in Afghanistan there are many women out there that do not have the same rights as men as a matter of fact they treat them way differently than men they think men are superior up to here and women down here and that's not right women should be treated equally as men we all should be treated equally as men I believe that here us we live in the United States we have equal rights but other people in other countries they do not and I believe that we take our rights for granted because many people don't have the same rights as we do and I am very very thankful that I have my rights because I don't know what I would do without them so I believe that everyone should have equal rights I believe that we need to come together as a community we need to start petitions we need to vote for these women to get the rights because this isn't fair I strongly believe that everyone should have the right to speak their mind and have an open opinion but in many countries women don't have that option we need to do something to stop we cannot just sit back and let all of this happen we need to stand up for these women and help them out thank you for listening may I remind you you've been listening for the last half hour to seventh and 8th grade students [Applause] that was amazing we will take a 10-minute intermission where our Junior High speakers can relax our high school speakers can do a little stretching and some tongue twisters to get them ready to go and I'll see you back here in 10 minutes thank you take your seats for the second half of our amazing evening [Applause] all right welcome back everyone to our amazing evening second half showcasing our high school students so let's get started from Oxford High School please welcome Jade Orr [Applause] good evening everyone we have entered a new era of Civic engagement there has been a push to have children learn about it in schools but where did it start and what does that mean for where we are and where we are going by the end of the speech all will be answered Civic engagement is the action of participating in one's government and or community so first where did it start Civic engagement has been around for centuries and was started in Greece but for the best comparison to Modern Civic action we should look to the 1960s at the time we had the Civil Rights Movement the women's rights movement a gay rights movement and even an environmentalist movement to quote Democracy in America by Alexis de toccoville the first mass democracy for white men became a nation in which people of all colors and both genders could participate people were Banning together for something bigger than themselves however shortly after came the silent majority and while there were still protests and movements they were no longer as strong as they once were people were less inclined to go out and meet other people you know your neighbor seriously know them their names and family members because survey says you don't kids today are growing up in an era of technology and stranger danger they are being told that they cannot trust the people around them according to Pew and they're and their beliefs are only getting more extreme according to Pew Research Center gen Z have a stronger mistrust in the government however they are more tolerant on diverse issues like racial inequality and lgbtq plus they have these passions for change but no place to put them we have entered a new era of Civic engagement and we are doing nothing to cultivate it everyone is mad and we are doing nothing about it to quote Dr Holly Russo Gilman in her book the future of Civic engagement there has not been enough focus on creating structures models and opportunities for people to proactively engage in Civic action we need to create Community again we need to help students build those structures so that more and more people can participate in Civic action so back to the question do you know your neighbor if your answer is no go out and say hi go to their house and ask to borrow a cup of sugar like you see in those old TV shows meet someone new and get to know them if your answer is yes go and ask to take a walk with them maybe even bowling so you won't be alone because until we trust each other again we cannot expect to trust our government again [Applause] our next speaker is from Magnolia High School Mimi alcalot [Applause] everyone feels confident on their own home turf this is the explanation of an ancient Arabic proverb but what if we want to feel confident when we're not on our home turf when we're playing our away game greetings everyone my name is and I'll be delivering my speech catching confidence but what is confidence Psychology today defines it as a belief in oneself the conviction that one has the ability to meet life's challenges and to succeed well why should you care why put yourself through the discomfort kids health points out a lack of confidence can hold people back from reaching their full potential meaning their purpose their Drive their Joy 85 percent of Americans suffer from low self-esteem according to the online therapy site better help this may stem from experiences in early childhood or ingrained beliefs we have about ourselves so how do we go against the grain we've cemented in our minds first the National Health Service says to unearth routinely negative thoughts we have about ourselves and challenge them a common example I'm ugly to challenge this we can use daily affirmations to change our mindset instead we can say I feel ugly but I know I am gorgeous second be comfortable with being uncomfortable think of your comfort zone like a muscle you need to train it to make it bigger discomfort is the only path to change finally stop thinking that everyone around you is always looking at and judging you take this as a relief you're not the focal point of everyone's attention well how will you be confident in yourself if you can't even be yourself if you use your time to practice and expand on these three tips I guarantee you'll gain confidence you'll be scoring the winning points at your next away game thank you [Applause] she was the focal point for a few moments there next up is from Savannah High School Kier Keith [Applause] Anaheim known as the home of Disneyland Angels baseball team and Knott's Berry Farm stands as the second largest city in Orange County and one of the most attractive cities in California what people don't know is the major hidden problem that destroys house affordability and school quality in our Golden City hopefully you'll never have to face this question my neighborhood is nice but why do I have to move my name is Kirk Keith and I like to bring much needed awareness to the rising issue of gentrification in the city of Anaheim Bloomberg News defines gentrification as the territorial expansion of a wealthy community into a poor neighborhood raising prices and making it impossible for low-income residents to stay there by simply talking numbers the last U.S census reports that the median income for an individual in Anaheim was thirty thousand dollars thirteen percent of whom are living in poverty while the median household income was roughly 76 thousand dollars newer and more expensive housing is being constructed in economically disadvantaged areas of Anaheim all the time causing poor residents to leave because they simply can't afford to live here more examples of expensive Anaheim housing includes records obtained from the Anheim Planning Commission in 2020.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
Linda Vista Street that's in ward 5. the gas ban in all new buildings and retrofitted buildings was proposed by the Planning Commission at the end of 2022. it was to have been voted on by the city council in February or March of 2023 but those meetings keep get getting postponed well I worry that this proposal is being indefinitely postponed I'd like to speak about the tremendously positive impact this proposal could have if all new buildings are newly retrofitted buildings are to be recommended from the start they will not have to be transitioned to Electric in the future 820 and a city's goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2030 will never be met if A2 continues being powered by gas every new movie that starts out being powered by gas will eventually have to be retrofitted for electricity in the future in the meantime the city's carbon footprint flourishes as we continue to power buildings with gas the city has approved seven all elected development projects since 2020 demonstrating the feasibility of all Olympics and new construction roughly 50 cities and countless and counties across the country have passed ordinances Banning or restricting natural gas in new construction and major renovations I hope that the environmental commission can have a voice in supporting the gas ban I think I understand that recently the city will postpone the gas ban until it renegotiates a heat franchise due in 2027 when the current franchise the DTE Runs Out I think the gas ban can't wait until then 2027 and should be started immediately thank you very much yeah thank you for your uh your input to the commission Ms Murphy who's next up uh next we have caller ending in three four five I'm allowing you to talk now hi this is Kitty Khan I live on Cross Street in the Fifth Ward I'm going to read portions of a statement that Jerry Hancock submitted to a 2021 webinar in answer to questions regarding 415 West Washington and building on a floodplain quote most of the 415 West Washington Street site is in the floodplain of Allen Creek a floodway portion is being recommended for open space and the future Tree Line Allen Creek urban trail that is an ideal use of the floodway in this urban area the remainder of the site is in the flood Fringe portion of the flood plain proposing to develop the flood Fringe either for public buildings or sailed for private development would be counter to the mitigation strategies approved by City Council in our 2017 Ann Arbor Hazard mitigation plan the idea of planning for residential uses is not suitable from a floodplain management standpoint while codes may allow residential uses in the flood Fringe building elevated residential structures in the flood Fringe increases the responsibility and cost of City emergency services and responding to flood events increases the risk of occupants being injured in a flood and flood plain construction is more costly the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development prohibits spending Federal money for residential uses in the floodplain for these reasons the city should also avoid facilitating residential uses in the floodplain since the city owns this floodplain property there is an opportunity to positively exceed the building codes and plan a resilient use that mitigates the previous development impact and considers future flood conditions the current proposal of a mixed-use building that includes residential and occupies the entire flood Fringe is not a desirable outcome for the site from a floodplain management standpoint the maximum amount of development on this site should not have a flood a footprint larger than the current buildings should be elevated as proposed and should not have any residential use unquote please use whatever influence you have as a commission with city council to discourage them from approving their plan for this site the city has been buying floodplain properties to protect them and it is just senseless to build and floodplain land it already owns thank you very much uh well thank you for your input Miss Khan and I I should just mention in this context that our the environmental commission's bylaws um prohibit us from we're remarking on individual developments but we're certainly interested in um in the general uh in the general uh policies of building and flood Plains here in Ann Arbor okay um so who's next um uh yes we have a phone number ending in 4-1-1 I'm allowing you to talk now and uh commissioner Brown can you hear me uh yes we can hear you uh uh hello commissioner Brown and uh uh chairman Brown and vice chair uh Mitchell this is uh James D'Amour and I I wanted to uh touch base with you on a couple things that are before you tonight um first off uh regarding uh the resolution regarding uh um uh gas-fired uh issues I support the resolution that's before you this evening I really feel we need to move forward on this and uh um to meet a20 goals I frankly feel um with how the previous caller has said that we have such a Zeal um for promoting development issues and I realize it's not the EC's uh uh on purview here um but we are pushing and pushing for development and it seems that all other considerations are secondary whereas recommendations for going all electric or ignoring our natural features which certainly has happened at Concord Pine developments and uh um and what I'm seeing uh in terms of uh what's going down at 415 West Washington I really urge the uh commission to really look strongly at pushing strong natural features ordinances and protections um was really with regard to building uh something in the flood plain we are at um you know 100 Year events 500 Year events on a much shorter time frame and wreath with the climate crisis we have to be resilient I think we need to take very seriously the notion of development in the flood plain just a personal anecdote that's certainly not compared to a multi-story building in a flood plain but we are digging out uh from a twenty thousand dollar uh um bill of uh flood damage to our home uh due to the the power shortage um water can make a big difference um we I am I living in a home that should have been never been built in a high water table area I'm not sure the Heinz 2020 is 1100 year old home but all of you in terms of uh managing uh um saying the standards for protect your natural features and protecting our natural systems including our waterways we absolutely need to be firm I'm listening to the science and when it comes to development issues and I say this to uh council member dish and councilman admin you I realize your Zeal and moving forward I realize you have some goals and we can discuss those goals and whether they're realistic or not but one thing you just simply cannot ignore we need to protect our natural features and I strongly urge uh the commit this body um to put measures and resolutions the pace to protect our our floodplain and our floodways and uh um commissioner Brown thank you for your time um thank you Mr D'Amour for your input to the commission um anybody else have their hand up Sean uh yes we have a caller a phone number ending in two zero two again that's two zero two now allowing you to talk my name is Rita lock Caruso I live at 556 Glendale Circle in Ann Arbor I am professor emeritos of Toxicology at the University of Michigan I was an inaugural member of this environmental commission I served for 14 years including three years as its chair I want to speak to the first item on your your agenda of new business putting residential structures in the floodplain especially high intensity residential structures it's simply Reckless it's a disregard of science it's a disregard of Public Safety numerous federal agencies recognize this Hazard and our own city ordinances and City plans recognize this hazard long-range forecasts predict increased frequency of severe rain events in our area because of climate change it's irresponsible to promote new residential development on sites that reside in the floodplain flooding close is even greater hazards when a site has significant pollution of soil and groundwater during flooding these pollutants will mix with the flood water pollutants mixing with the flood water can expose citizens as well as Public Safety officers to hazardous chemicals and can spread the pollutants off-site into nearby homes and structures as well as contaminate storm water drains and surface waters it's recognized by every U.S federal agency and safety agency as well as the World Health Organization that this scenario of hazardous chemical releases into flood water requires careful analysis and expertise to ensure protection of health and safety fortunately the city of Ann Arbor has a highly credentialed storm water and flood programs coordinator Jerry Hancock to protect the city its residents and its businesses the city needs to use his expertise to ensure that the necessary guardrails for health and safety are in place in summary the city of Ann Arbor should follow its ordinances and plans and utilize staff expertise to reduce hazards from flooding by careful consideration of all options for better flight plane management thank you thanks for your input Ms lock Caruso um anybody else Sean uh yes we have a call our phone number ending in five three four again that is five three four hello this is Tom stahlberg I'm calling Lower Town in Ann Arbor and I'm calling in as a former subdivision developer a current real estate professional who's done a lot of renovation of duplexes and a future developer because I'm eyeing a site for a small multi-family development in terms of your second resolution about uh natural gas I fully support doing whatever we can there and I know there's some hurdles there so I support intern measures in terms of that I also suggest and have spoken with other bodies about this that we have a measurement on every application that comes in essentially what we used to call say an environmental impact statement a carbon impact statement when we're weighing our decisions whether we say yes or no little project or however we want to influence that project we should have a number on that so that we know if we approve that project as is what we have to do the rest of us and make up for the deficit that we're greeting if a20 really means Zero by 2030 every time you put something in one column you're going to have to balance it out somewhere else so I encourage every Commission line the commission environmental commission energy commission every commission and Council to work towards uh getting a number on every single project I don't know what it takes to acquire that where a resolution would start but I'm encouraging that also in terms of storm water just from my experience at developing subdivision there it's getting worse and I've seen the impact of what just a little bit of extra water can do say in a Suburban subdivision with a wooded wetland it doesn't take much to push that over the edge to be a dying swamp storm water is part of our climate crisis it is what we see in Michigan as the impact of a global crime climate situation the development that I'm looking at doing I took a civil engineer out there that evaluated and I said help me design this so that I can exceed stormwater measures because in my lifetime it's going to be a lot worse and Washington County and city of Ann Arbor have very good standards right now but we need to even have better because of what's coming in my opinion so we're great but let's get even better in terms of managing our storm water every project that we put in right now is actually an opportunity to exceed the legal limits of our standards this we can somehow incentivize developers to do that because our existing infrastructure is inadequate and we know that our built environment is inadequate it's great that we have great standards how can we do even more to help make up for what we're lacking because we know this problem is only going to get worse in terms of the severity intensity and frequency of intense storm events one small point on 415 West Washington uh I've spoke at Council the other day um this application does not meet the intent of our ordinances it does not meet the intent of our city policies in multiple ways one of them has to do with the flood plain another has to do with its approach to the historic district um so I think it's a problematic application to start with and uh I know you're not going to comment on that individual project but I do want you to take a serious look at it and I'm hoping other bodies also take a serious look at that project thank you very much yeah thanks for your input Mr Stolper um Sean anybody else uh yes we have a number ending in zero one two again that is zero one two hello hi um my name is my name is Muffy McKenzie I live at 217 3rd Street and uh I uh realized that you are not specific um Parcels in the city of Ann Arbor but I would like to discuss um the 415 West Washington um and I wanted to say that my property a butts the the um the property of 415 West Washington yes we can't hear you uh we appear to have lost them they are no longer online um in the meantime we do have another caller um we have a number ending at 879 again that number ends in 879 you should not be able to speak hi this is Vince Caruso from 556 bondale Circle according to hear me hello we can yes I'm sorry could you hear me yes we can hear you oh okay I'm sorry uh um thanks Caruso 556 Glendale Circle uh coordinator member and founding member of the animals Creek Watershed group acwg.org board and founding member of the card group Coalition for action on remediation of The Oxen and a former executive committee member of the serial Club hero ballet group uh putting residential housing at 415 Washington would be a major mistake and dangerous and as poorly in this poorly understood floodplain uh new discussions at City Hall regarding developing 415 is they'll advise and dangerous the Owls Creek Watershed group does not support this proposal we communicated this the city council the Planning Commission our watershed management plan adopted by the DEQ Washington County and city of Ann Arbor agrees with Jerry Hancock's comments on floodplain management the First Street Foundation open source flood modeling entity has been working closely with the Federal Emergency Management agency FEMA in recent years to update the greatly lowballed ball floodplain maps by up to 33 percent and FEMA agrees and need to be updated FEMA is now working on FEMA 2.0 to update these maps that they say are inaccurate our current city leaders pretend to plan for global warming but proposed building and residential no less in a dangerous floodplain location for some reason the city officials failed to involve Jerry Hancock on the evaluation of the 415 plan mining officials said it stated it was our bad Jerry made comments anyway the previous caller quoted him um as Rita my wife has said chemicals on this side are said to be uh be treated but they float and Float water in addition to chemicals from flooded cars uh could be very dangerous these chemicals will migrate into the neighborhoods and contaminate potentially contaminated homes in the old west side this site at 415 West Washington was completely flooded in 1968 in the Hundred Year rain some would say it was really a 50-year rain we had City officials Washington uh Watershed council members and City and other County officials in that building when it flooded and they could not leave the building they soon to be drain commissioner who was at that meeting his car was totaled with the flood water um they had no idea how dangerous the flood was going to be which tells you something that the flood exports were trapped in a building on this site The Six Day flood wars were very close to the train trestle tracks at 4 15 at 10 feet 6 inches high above the roadway this site is all like in all likelihood uh has much more floodway due to climate change and seeing a low balling of floodplain maps and we're much more dangerous than the map suggests we really need to pay attention to flood Hazard we've had thousand year rains in Michigan uh up towns were destroyed uh 13 Bridges were destroyed near Holland Michigan on a 500 year range they're happening more often and are much much more dangerous than people understand voters passed in Ann Arbor affordable housing tax Proposal with a ban on funds being used in floodplains for a reason Town Square washer group Champion the resolution with our council member at the time so it's playing the Floyd the delineations in this site are arguably out there and inaccurate unsafe for suspecting individuals Dr Missy Stahl for city of sustainability and Innovation Innovations manager States at the A2 kickoff that she did not support building in the floodplain period no discussion no question just no uh so he has made major mistakes in this area in the floodplain the homeless shelter had to be stopped construction had to have a stop work order because a local residents including the house group showed that uh the DEQ that the building would have been in the floodway which was illegal that million dollar plan was scrapped and they redid the building and built right up to the line that the DQ drove with a pencil uh probably now the building is probably in the floodway as it moved up the hill Hawaii on West Washington lost the required FEMA free board open one foot floodplain safety zone and just 1.5 years after it was built a very dangerous situation we need to make sure that we don't put our residents In Harm's Way and floodplains need to be respected thank you yeah Mr Caruso you're running you've run out of time uh do you want to wrap up quickly hello I'm fine that's okay thanks sorry I ran over thank you that's all right um thank you for your input um anybody else online Sean uh yes we have a caller uh phone number ending in zero one two again that's zero one two you should now be able to speak oh yeah that's Miss McKenzie hello Miss Mackenzie I'm so sorry uh my apologies I don't know what happened there that's okay we can hear you yeah okay good so I just wanted to continue that um I'm a homeowner whose property abuts the 415 West Washington uh which is a contaminated site in the floodplain and flood way which um uh people before me have been discussing um I'm not a scientist or a flood expert but I do have some common sense enough to know that a toxic site in a flood way uh is a potential catastrophe as you know the city has known about the contaminants on the site for a long time and yet there has been uh no cleanup now we're finding out that there are even more contaminants as well as toxic plume on this site not only in our neighborhood but across the street from the Ann Arbor YMCA where children or friends our grandparents frequent why aren't people yelling from their rooftops to have this tax site cleaned up now the the city's solution to this urgent situation is to try and find a developer who will build a 70-foot tall building to house hundreds of residents in a toxic blood plane and floodway it makes no sense to me that you know other than this push to develop without um consequences um and the responsibility for this cleanup should not depend on or wait on some unknown developer who may or may not purchase this contaminated site in a flood area who knows how long that process will take this isn't this is urgent for the health and well-being of our entire community and it needs to be addressed yesterday how much will this cleanup cost we have yet to be given any concrete numbers has a city tried to find alternative funding for the cleanup I have not heard of any such inquiries I'm hoping that with your knowledge and expertise you'll be able to find some solutions or encourage the city to clean this fight up now I thank you very much for your time and uh would appreciate some advocacy on this issue um yeah thank you for your input Ms McKenzie um anybody else on the line Sean uh we do not have any more hands raised okay um excuse me Sean I do happen to know that someone was trying is there a possibility for you to tell if someone is on the line and unable to indicate um I can look to see if you have the phone number I can look to see if their number is in the list we do also have a hand raise now um but I can look for the number that you have if that's a new number then that's probably the right one right now uh it's a number ending in four six four uh again that's number is four six four you should be not able to be able to speak yes uh can you hear me yes we can hear you oh thank you so much that was me I'm I'm on a phone and for some reason the star nine wasn't working but I think I finally managed to get it to work so thank you so much um you've got such a big oh my name is Linda barauer and I live at 421 3rd Street and you've got such a big agenda I hope you will allow me to talk briefly on all three items I'm so happy to see the pollinator habitat resolution um in addition to recommending less frequent Mowing and keeping Lawns six to eight inches in Spring and reduced raking and leaf cleanup and fall I would suggest it could be strengthened by specifying the delayed cleanup means not just leaving the leaves in place but also not cutting down dead stems and seed heads in the fall and explicitly recommending that those actions should be delayed and delayed molding in Spring until after a week of 50 degree temperature so as not to disturb the many pollinators that overwinter and dry plant material and I understand there were some complaints last year about Nomo may but there was also enthusiastic support for it in the community and I just want you to be aware that there was amazing support and excitement over it so going forward I think the most important thing is that you recommend the city develop and promote fun and attractive educational materials about how to preserve pollinator habitat and discouraging the use of pesticides and artificial fertilizers as far as the gas then I totally support Banning it in new construction and I know planning staff bought a very creative solution to Planning Commission recently the proposed of doing it via our zoning code since the state doesn't allow it via our building code and it's really important to find a way to do this via our zoning rules as soon as possible seems that every week a massive new development is approved with gas hookups that will produce more emissions than the emissions reduced by any reduction in commuters from the resulting density or the actions taken so far under our a20 plan so if we're serious about the a20 plan it doesn't make any sense to allow gas hookups and new constructions and responsible Builders are doing the right thing in new developments at Ann Arbor right now which shows that it is possible the other builders just need to follow suit and just asking politely hasn't gotten the results so I hope you will recommend city council put some teeth into a gas band for new construction and then lastly the flood plain I'm looking forward to Jerry Hancock's presentation tonight I personally think the city should adopt a policy of no new building in flood Plains period certainly not on properties it owns and somebody else stated the city's buying floodplain properties and tearing down stuff to open up the flood Plains so we shouldn't be building new stuff on properties we already own that are in the flood plain um and I think the environmental commission needs to hopefully will support our floodplain coordinators advice on this and recommend such a thing to council um just one more point from today's PowerPoint presentation it seems that the greatest flood plain in the city is in Allens Creek which isn't surprising and I want to point out there are three city-owned Parcels in Allens Creek 415 West Washington 721 North Main and 1st and William and of these there's an active proposal to put hundreds of new units on the 415 site so a broad floodplain resolution is really critical right now and at a recent city council meeting while the debate debating developing 415 West Washington when asked about flood insurance I think an incomplete answer was given by staff so I hope that tonight you will ask the city flip you'll ask Jerry Hancock to explain how flood insurance can be decreased city-wide because the city participates in a commuting rating system which gives us credits for doing above and beyond the minimally required flood plain requirements I can if you give me just one more minute what he said in a um you've got a baby 15 seconds okay I just want to please ask Gary that yeah I'll wrap it up I just I just want to I hope somebody will ask Jerry that question about how we can reduce flood insurance rates city-wide by going above and beyond what we're currently doing just minimally in floodplain management thank you so much um thank you very much for your input Mackenzie anybody else John uh we do not have any other hands raised at the moment okay all right well uh this ends the first period of public commentary there'll be another period at the end of this meeting um so there is no unfinished unfinished business uh today so we'll move on to the new business and um the first item up is discussion of risks and management of new and existing Construction in the floodplain area which will begin with um a presentation by Jerry Hancock hey thank you for inviting me tonight so I was asked to put together a presentation to get a conversation started so I have a short presentation [Music] are you seeing my screen yes yep yes uh all right so for those of you that don't know me I'm Jerry Hancock I am the storm water and floodplain programs coordinator and the systems planning unit uh I've been at the city for almost 33 years and during that 33 years floodplain management has been part of my responsibility the whole time uh in addition to my work at the city I'm also the executive director of the Michigan stormwater floodplain Association which is a Statewide Association of St of floodplain managers so I'm going to go through this will be kind of a basic uh floodplain management uh presentation just to get conversations going since this is your meeting and you ask me to come if you feel the need to interrupt me please do but otherwise we can continue talking after the presentation uh so floodplained I'm gonna go through a few of the terminologies so a floodplain is made up of two parts there's actually more parts than that but two main parts the floodway and the flood Fringe the flood way is where water moves with a disruptive Force there's there are more regulations in that area than the flood Fringe the water sort of piles up and recedes and you'll hear the term 100-year storm that is a and that is not really used by FEMA anymore it's really the one percent annual chance our flood maps that we have come from FEMA in addition to the the maps themselves there's a study that goes along with the maps that shows uh much more detail about flood elevation this is what a FEMA flood map looks like but FEMA also provides us with the digital files so we so what you see on the city's uh website and then also internally our GIS it draws from the exact same information that's on the the FEMA web um flood maps to give you a sense of how much flood plain there is in the city of Ann Arbor it represents about 10 percent of the city now given a lot of that is is the Huron River but as far as structures go there are about 500 a little more than 500 structures in the flood plain the majority of those are in Allen Creek and its branches so there was some questions that came about flood insurance so flood insurance is required if a structure is in the flood plain and there is a federally backed mortgage so that's different than if the property is in the flood plain it's you know the flood insurance is required required for structures um the national flood insurance program however is currently 20 billion 20.5 billion dollars in debt this number has stayed consistent for the last few years but as a result Congress is continually looking at ways to improve this program because obviously it wouldn't be in debt if it were a solid program so there have been several efforts to make reforms to it particularly in 2012 there's a major overhaul but then people um didn't like the results and screamed loudly enough to get Congress to undo their uh the changes and um they moved they were trying to move towards getting rid of subsidies and move towards the actuary rates and they're still moving in that direction but then uh last year uh FEMA implemented the First new pricing methodology it's called risk rating 2.0 so the way that the um the rates are figured out are is completely different than they were for the past 40 years and that's the first time that they've changed the the methodology since the implementation of the program within the national flood insurance program there is a a program was mentioned by one of the callers it's called the community rating system and and they do offer the ability to lower flood insurance rates for communities to go above and beyond the minimum standards this chart represents like what what the result of the of the program is so it's a it's a point system and the more things that you do that are go above and beyond minimum standards the more points you get and communities start out at a at a class 10 you go from the bottom to the top and as you get more points each class there is a corresponding reduction in insurance rates for every policy in the community we are currently at a class six with off to the side there you can see we have 200 and Excuse Me 2 points which gives us a 20 discount um we've act I put a little plus there because I we actually got a few more points for the most recent Hazard mitigation plan that aren't represented there and the way it's a very complicated system and it'll it may take a little while before those are represented they're not we didn't get enough points to get us to the next level but we're getting pretty close so I just mentioned uh Hazard mitigation plan so um the way that uh communities get mitigation money from FEMA um you you have to have a flood mitigation plan or a hazard mitigation plan to be eligible for mitigation money it's also a way for this for communities to prioritize or identify different mitigation methods or projects so we started this this effort in 2007 with the first flood mitigation plan and then FEMA changed the way that the mitigation planning works and and change it to require all Hazard plans and these plans expire in five years so you can see where we've been on a path of 2007 2012 2017 and then just in November of last year we adopted our latest Hazard mitigation plan that's because they expire every five years so here are a few things that have been accomplished since 2007.
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if you all would please rise for a salute to our flag followed by a brief moment of silence I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you Mr shahada filling in for Mr UC Royal Please Mr abadravo here Mr Awad I will be late here Mr Brunswick here Mr Mejia here Mr Paris here miss Santiago here vice president Danny I will be late the mission of the Clifton School District in an open and reciprocal Community Partnership is for all students with a quality education to develop the skills necessary to become literate lifelong Learners who are responsible and productive citizens contributing to a Democratic Society in an ever-changing world the open public meetings act in New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the Clifton Board of Education has caused noted of this meeting to be publicized by having the date time and place thereof posted at the city clerk's office Clifton Public Library administration building senior citizen Nutrition Center on cable TV in the local press on the district's website and mail to president's apparent teacher organizations this meeting will be tape recorded in accordance with policy zero one six eight hold on one second my internet's not working that would be nice yeah I gotta get in here anyway but one second folks a little technology here um Mr Rose are you ready on your end okay we're good no we're not good Jada could you entertain us with some hands please serenade us all right uh if you're ready we'll do the um the uh public recognition of course when I go through it this portion of the meeting is open to Residents and non-residents of the city of Clifton for the purpose of addressing any subject matter pertinent to and or directly related to the operation of the Clinton Public School District residents and non-residents are requested if they're in person to sign the register provider for this purpose all speakers are asked to State their names municipality in which they live and subject matter before speaking comments are limited to five minutes per person issues raised by member of the public may or may not be responded to by the board all comments will be considered and responsible before coming if and when appropriate your questions may or may not be answered by board members the board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when they are speaking specifically comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged and will not be responded by the board students and employees have specific specific legal rights afforded to them by the laws of the state of New Jersey the board Bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public members of the public should consider their comments in light of the legal rights of those affected or identified in their comments and be aware that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments okay we'll start with a virtual calling we have no one in the room okay we'll now open in person uh public recognition if you wish to address the board kindly come up to the podium and uh you have five minutes can we just turn that microphone on okay good evening again my name is Shannon scuya I'm a Clifton High School English teacher and the union vice president of the high school just coming because I know that the budget has been a big thing and it's going to be something that's going on for the next three meetings so I want you guys to take some things into consideration I wore my teaching superpower shirt tonight because teaching is my superpower it's yours and I want you guys to keep that in consideration I know that we talk a lot about the budget and what it does for the students and I know that talking about the teacher sounds a little greedy but I want you guys to think about this way teachers are burnt out and we're burnt out because our budget has been shortchanged for years which means that we have huge class sizes a class of 30 students is a lot for one person to take on there's no way as hard as you try and we have a great staff to reach each and every one of those students every day if we had less students we can give them a better education we want our students to be literate lifelong learners we have to show them that they are truly worthy of it by thinking about doing the biggest budget possible we have classrooms that are falling apart we need the money to fix our schools my heart breaks because every day we are losing more and more good teachers some of my best friends have retired early they're leaving education in general and more and more people tell me every day that they're looking to leave they are tired they have second jobs I hear comments like I go home to my family and I can't give them the patience that I need because I spent it all in the classroom we have wonderful students but we have students who come with lots of issues that we help deal with every day and it takes a toll on us emotionally so we want that extra support so that we can give it to our students the happier the teachers are the happier the students are the more teachers we have the education we can give them if we share this work with one another if we have the money to give the kids a better one-to-one ratio then we can really make a true difference and give our students the future they need it makes the town look better when you have a better education we're losing very good staff I can't impress upon you that much because they just can't handle the stress anymore it's a lot for anybody so when you're thinking about the budget and what you're going to do with it I want you to think about that have more money we can get better teachers and we can pull teachers in who want to do it we need to keep those young teachers we need to keep those teachers who are dedicated they could be here for a long time and that is just not happening so please when we think about the budget think you're four five maybe even six percent it's for the students better the education better the students the happier everybody is thank you [Applause] anyone else wish to address the board hold on a second there it is good evening to all my name is Lori lalam and I'm the president of the Clifton Education Association I want to thank you for tonight for the ability to be able to speak raising taxes to fund education can have several important benefits including improving educational outcomes adequate funding is essential to provide students with quality education with more funding schools can hire more and offer a wider range of extracurricular activities and programs all of these factors can lead to better educational outcomes for students reducing inequity inequality schools in low-income areas often have fewer resources than schools in more affluent areas this can lead to significant disparities in educational outcomes between students from different socioeconomic backgrounds by raising taxes to fund districts can have leveled the playing field and ensure that all students have access to the resources they need to succeed attracting businesses and families good schools are often a major factor in attracting business and families to a community when schools are well funded they can offer a high higher quality education that prepares students for college and careers this can help create a more skilled Workforce and stimulate economic growth in the community meet legal obligations in many states the government has a legal obligation to provide certain level of funding for Education if schools are not adequately funded they may be unable to meet the legal requirements for providing a quality education overall raising taxes for school funding can have a positive impact on students families in this community by providing adequate resources to schools we can help ensure that all students have access to a quality education that prepares them for success in life we can't have a Cadillac education at Pinto prices thank you anyone else foreign hello everybody my name is John O'Reilly I'm a teacher at Clifton High School almost 10 years now I'm a proud Mustang and I'm really happy to be here today um I want to first start off by saying that I've watched the last few board meetings and I just want to to let you know that I think many of us do appreciate the discussions that are taking place over how to make the school a better place all of us have Clifton etched into our hearts in one way or another and we all want to see what's best for our community and I applaud you for the efforts the debates and the questions each of you have I have nothing prepared I did not come with a script I did not come with anything I'm just speaking from the heart as a teacher as someone who loves my students and have someone who really cares about this school district we have a lot of talented staff at all of our schools at Clifton we have many teachers who go up and beyond the call every single day we have parent professionals working in very limited capacities we have nurses who experience the covid-19 pandemic possibly the worst experience you could ever have as a medical professional and you have a variety of counselors dealing with so many different kinds of mental health issues that are that are that are that are being faced throughout this nation we have custodian we have secretaries we have administrators who are doing everything that they can to make Clifton the best place it possibly can be now what I'm about to say is going to sound a bit uh like a bit of a challenge and it's not intended to be my students always know that the best kinds of the best kind of education comes directly from a teacher and a student they did a study long time ago and they found that the most effective teaching is one-on-one now I don't think we can afford a one-on-one basis for every student every student teacher that's not what I'm asking for but in our class sizes at the at Clifton High School at the middle schools and at the elementary schools we have t classrooms with 30 kids that is in conducive to a lot of our that's that is very problematic for the future of our education the the more the more students that teachers have the less time that they have to nurture and build social their emotional their their intellectual growth one of the things that most teachers always talk about is that they are so busy juggling so many different obligations counselors are dealing with so many students with so many different unique challenges and same goes with the second year teacher and it was arguably the scariest moment of my career because it was at that moment in which many of my colleagues who I grew attached to whom I loved were immediately taken away from the school district I'll never forget one of my dearest friends breaking down crying in front of her students because she was told by her supervisor that she will not she was not renewed it was not because of our teaching ability she was an amazing teach teacher even her own students tried to fight to keep her but the budget didn't allow it I saw this time and time again and because of that all the other teachers counselors parents nurses are picking up the slack we are doing what two teeth one person is doing what two should be doing and it's a lot perfectly said that the burnout rate is really high and it is teaching is not a normal profession it's a performing profession it's a counseling profession just like all the other major educational responsibilities we handle multiple responsibilities every day I go home every night and I go to my next job I have three or four different stipends just to make teaching work to make Clifton work and I'm not the only one we just need some help we need more bodies in the classrooms we need more bodies with the kids you know our most vulnerable population doesn't even have enough powers to get them to the bathroom every day our kids are in the nurses offices and I'm not you could you could ask the data you could look at it yourself they're waiting minutes of minutes even hours of precious educational time waiting for someone to take care of them we're begging you please take care of them thank you [Applause] the other side of what happens in a classroom without enough bodies my sixth grade daughter was in kindergarten so we're gonna go take a trip back in time and she was struggling I mean at kindergarten she was struggling and I would pick her up every day after school and I always got this super positive report she's doing great she's having a blast she's learning this she's learning that and then this letter came home that said my daughter needed Title One assistance she wasn't doing well in math or English kind of not what I was being told and I didn't find that out until the progress report came home in February which is when we bring it out for all kindergarteners and that again became problematic to me because the other two classrooms of kindergartners because we actually start a school year with only two Kindergartens Ms basford yes Mr Brunson yes Mr Mejia yes Mr Paris yes Mr yes president Smith yes all right uh now have our superintendent's report Dr robotozy thank you Mr President good evening Commissioners members of the public members of our outstanding teaching staff here tonight nice to see you guys and members of the community watching our live stream uh first I'd like to say uh Ramadan Mubarak to all in our one Clifton Community who uh who celebrate this morning at Sunrise Ramadan began and Ramadan is a month-long fast a time of reflection selfless acts and spiritual growth for Muslims uh the one Clifton Community stands in solidarity with our Muslim faculty and students as they celebrate this holy month it's really nice to see so many of our outstanding teachers here tonight I think you should come to all of our meetings no really it's so nice to see you guys thank you for everything you do to change the lives of of our children every single day and make no mistake about it you do that every single day to take a moment to recognize School 15 pbsis student ambassadors they have been doing a phenomenal job Distributing prizes making weekly pbsis expectation announcements and being great leaders so I'd like to give a shout out to Elijah Roman Nathan Soto zamira Alvarez Riley Gonzalez Arena borgheva and Aisha Gill please keep up the great work the entire Community is very very proud of you foreign our wonderful student representative mentioned some of the spring sports starting and I wanted to let the Commissioners in the community know that we will finally be having a ribbon cutting for the brand new tennis courts at Clifton High School which really came out beautifully and if you happen haven't seen it there our tennis team's first home match is Tuesday April 4th that's when we're going to plan the ribbon cutting before the first match invitations will be going out on Monday something that we should be very very proud of um also the new fields and field house being constructed at Woodrow Wilson Middle School if you have haven't driven by lately please do there's a tremendous amount of progress I'm told on Monday the turf field will be laid down and we will be playing baseball on that new field and soccer on that new field this this spring that's exciting because if you remember what that field looked like it was embarrassing in many ways so it's going to be nice we'll have of course a groundbreaking excuse me a ribbon cutting for that too when we when we open that field so there's a lot of work going on in our schools as you know there's something going on in every school uh HVAC new HVAC systems um going in new windows and many schools if you're in a school that doesn't have new windows yet you're getting new windows within the next year so there's a lot of great infrastructure projects going on here in Clifton I know sometimes it inconveniences our our staff but for the greater good I think that they're they're okay with the inconvenience temporarily uh tonight I want to remind the board that there is a resolution for you to approve not approve the preliminary budget to approve and give permission to our business administrator to send the budget to the county office tonight you are not approving the budget just giving permission to send it to the county office we will still have over a month to make any changes that may be deemed necessary by this board which could mean as suggested to not going up to six percent just want to see who was going to laugh I'm joking we're not I wouldn't even recommend us going up to six percent but um whatever's on the revolution tonight and whatever's in the budget that goes to the county tomorrow once you authorize that can be changed between now and our meeting in May May 4th May 4th May the fourth be with you that will be the final budget we'll do another presentation and you'll and we'll hopefully we'll have some consensus on what the plan is by then so just remember and we're happy to answer any questions on that budget tonight but I don't want to get bogged down in things that we don't necessarily need to because we do have a lot of time to to to discuss it uh that concludes my report tonight uh thank you for your time thank you superintendent Dr rotosi for your report all right we'll now move on to uh I don't have my my board docs is not opening so you gotta bear with me I'm sorry uh we don't have any presentations correct we have our order here oh yes okay and he's here he's here um are you Mr Robert are you okay to take your break through and then do you mind if I take a recess sure I'll be right back break my fast okay so uh Mr Roberto is going to uh take a brief recess to break his fast and we'll have our orders report while he's doing that uh Mr thank you and good evening Paul Lurch from large fencing Bliss so I'm here to present the results of the audit uh for the year-ending June of 22. and um I'll start off by saying that the Clifton Board of Education received unmodified opinions and we have three separate audit opinions in our report itself we have our overarching opinion on the financial statements we have our opinion on the single audit and quoting with governmental auditing standards and then we have a third opinion because of the amount of state aid and federal aid that the district receives it's part of the single audit requirement and there we received the board has received an unmodified so in layman's terms on modified means clean opinion if there were modifications we would be talking about specific issues there'd be significant recommendations and comments in the report but quite frankly there aren't any we have one comment to make and I'll get i'll get through that at the very end that actually made it to the audit report an extensive amount of time is spent here um you know just you live it every day the size the complexity of the district itself which certainly requires a lot of attention from our staff as well um so no significant deficiencies in internal controls as I indicated we're kind of coming around that same same process as usual the district was subject to a state and federal single audit so not only do we look at the financial statements because we have to and and present a report and we opine on on the financial statements um we also then look at the state and federal grants that you receive anytime a board of education receives more and spends more than 750 000 in either federal or state grants it requires a single audit what does that mean it really means that what we do is we look at then these significant grants that the district spent it triggers major programs we then make a determination as to how much we have to test on those major programs and um since you are a low-risk audit T and without getting too technical what that means it means that you've gone two years in a row without having significant deficiencies of findings so you were a low-risk Oddity meaning that we need to then spend or actual review expenditures of up to 20 percent of those those programs so what does that really mean the the state expenditures that were processed through the board of education for our fiscal year was over 109 million dollars of state aid it's quite a bit so we did quite a bit of testing on those programs this year we did some different testing we did the extraordinary a testing that we had last year we had deficiencies noted those were cleaned up so there's nothing to report there we tested the preschool Grant we tested the FICA Grant we also tested Transportation with no no specific comments or or requirements for the report on the federal side you had 26 million dollars worth of revenues through the system and expenditures uh here as I'm sure you're quite aware it deals really with the Opera money the Esser monies coronavirus money all of those those proceeds just like you every other District within the state of New Jersey had an influx of of Aid through the federal government we've had districts this year that believe it or not we're never subject to a federal single audit some of the very small districts never exceeded the 750.
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But on top of that leadership, she also is our student council um president at North Grove Elementary School. And um in addition to that, she's involved with a whole lot of other things like she's a part of our STEM club, our Viking VO voices, and our art club. Um her parents are here also. I want to welcome Troy and Emily. and they she keeps them very very busy because on top of all of the scout commitments and the school commitments. She also um earlier this year was part of the um musical Susical through Creative Grounds Theater and coming up she plans to be a part of Frozen. Correct. All right. So, let's come up. So, she's a busy busy girl but definitely takes it all in stride and works hard. And we are proud to have Maple Meers here. [Applause] I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands.
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39 condo units were built between La Palma Avenue and Anaheim Boulevard in a working-class Latino Community where the average income was fifty thousand dollars do that buyers must have an annual income of over 100 000 to afford buying a unit in this new construction does this seem fair to you this phenomenon also negatively affects school districts and gentrified neighborhoods according to recent Stanford research when neighborhoods identify Local Schools tend to lose students the drop is rather small at three percent of enrollment and this trend is seen in the Anaheim Union High School District where a student population has decreased every year since 2017. innocent people like my best friend Isaac are true victims to gentrification in this city of Anaheim through all his entire life only his grandmother has had the ability to own a house in our city his father always gets close to buying a house he has to stick to a crowded apartment due to mortgage and interest that just keeps getting higher wisick lives with his dad his mother is on the verge of eviction due to ever increasing housing costs how is gentrification so unknown yet so brutal how do we prevent gentrification the solution is complicated however we could start with policies at the federal state and city levels provide financing for affordable housing additionally Urban Magna programs can be implemented in Anaheim which create guidelines for racial and income diversity if you are concerned about gentrification controlling your City contact your city council to find out how your home may be affected that way you'll never have to ask yourself my neighborhood is nice but why do I have to move thank you [Applause] next up from Gilbert High School I'm very pleased to introduce you to Caden Morgan [Applause] my family came to this country in the early 70s from Nicaragua for a better life but in the 40-something Years they've been here the United States has let them down my name is Kaden Morgan and I'm here to share my thoughts on why I believe this country is on its Journey towards its downfall for starters everything is more expensive now according to the U.S Energy Information Administration California gas prices in 2020 average three dollars and 13 cents per gallon compared to 5.40 in 2022 why well you can blame the war in Ukraine but as reported by Forbes that's not the only reason oil oil companies are unwilling to invest in New Wealth to see their prices decline their supply increase and their profits dwindle their greed is what we pay for at the pump secondly a recent poll from Yahoo finance recently concluded that 70 percent of people's income goes towards rents and other necessities to add on that back then in 1975 if you made 15 an hour you would be able to afford a home if you made that now you can barely afford to rent a studio apartment the current minimum wage does not allow us to live comfortably and living comfortably means keeping food on the table and a roof over our heads even if we are able to live comfortably we live in an epidemic of gun violence according to the gun violence archive from February 17th through 19th there were a record 10 mass shootings in a single weekend Across the Nation 10.
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uh well we got new maps and one thing I want you to notice about all these the all of these take a very long time well employing management is you have to be in it for the Long Haul um just just kidding and getting new maps the FEMA process you can see it took seven years uh but once we had the the first flood mitigation plan in place we were eligible to apply for Pima grants and so um I work on a couple different grants the 415 was excuse me uh 219 West Kingsley that is also people called the fish Park we received a FEMA grant for that and then there were also also a couple structures that we tore down at 721 North Main now when FEMA gives grant money for that in return you have to deed restrict the property that's that's their their incentive to give you money they want to know that you're not going to build buildings in the flood plain and then there was a long effort to join the community rating system oops uh and we actually joined at a um class seven and then through some additional effort improved to a class six and we're continuing to try to improve that uh and one of the major recommendations of the hazard mitigation plans was to do a floodplain management overlay district and we're finally successful at implementing that in January of 2021 and then probably the biggest uh project at least money wise that came out of the hazard mitigation planning was doing the Allen Creek Railroad berm opening and I can talk about that later if people have questions about that but that that project was actually identified in the 2007 plan so even though I wrote here 2015 to present 15 that's when we started getting a FEMA Grant but the effort actually started in 2007 so it's a very long project this is just a if you're not familiar with uh this is a map showing some floodplain and uh where the Kingsley fish Park is at the couple buildings that we tore down on 721 North Main and where the Allen Creek berm opening project is at the mouth of animal Creek thank you so I was asked to touch touch base on changing weather patterns now I know that most of you probably already know most of this stuff but temperatures are increasing which is causing precipitation to increase uh in both in frequency and intensity which results in increase in runoff this chart while it's 10 years old it documents the increase in both temperature and precipitation from 1951 to 2012 so during that period there was a 41 increase in the one percent annual chance floods and 44 increase in annual precipitation this is this is a stat from a long-term staff from the city here in the city of days when that we've received over two inches of rain and while it's all up and down you can tell the general trend is moving up and then here here's some storm event I put this together based on you know actual events that happened here in Ann Arbor and so uh the cybers is percent annual chance just so you know one percent annual chance that's what people call the Hundred Year event a 10 percent would be a 10-year event a four percent would be a 50-year and a two percent okay excuse me four percent is a 25-year and a two percent of 50 year and the takeaway from this is that these storms happen way more often than what the what the year storm uh would suggest so just looking at the 10-year storm between 2009 and 15 like we had was six tenure storms in a seven year period and I and I put uh those 2014 on here because we actually got had flood damage from uh just one year event that particular year so some people thought it was a bigger event than what it was um so just support that idea that that um the size storms that we're getting are are getting larger uh Noah is the ones who determine uh the flood predictions or the size of storms they like they figure out what a hundred year 12-hour storm is and they have this fantastic charts but using that one percent annual chance um the old numbers which were based from their previous estimates in 1992 to the new ones that we're using now which are now 10 years old but in 2013 uh there was a 17 increase in the size of a hundred year of a storm event our current maps are actually based on the older values and then this is just to drive home that not only can we say that storms are getting bigger but the actual amount of flood damage in Michigan you can see that the trend here while this goes back a long ways but starting in the 90s the trend just it starts moving up which kind of matches the uh increase in storm events too so the city has we have a calibrated stormwater model of all Creek sheds within the city and you don't need to read any of the numbers on on here uh but what this chart is showing is that the the top section lists the amount of Acres buildings and Parcels in the floodplain on the FEMA Maps the second and our middle part lists the numbers from from the cities model what we're predicting and there are a few major differences we used newer uh storm amounts we used actual flow and we use better Contour information and then the bottom part shows the difference and the uh the point of this slide is that the difference all those numbers are positive there are no negative numbers so our model predicts that everywhere within the city the the flood plain is um ultimately larger that may not mean in ever on every parcel it's larger or even in each creep set but but at least portions of the flood plain and each Creek said there's some area that's larger so one of the things in the stormwater model that we're able to do are for we had our consultant do and we first put it together as we put various scenarios together um we have this one we call that the future the future scenario so we we took every single family home and said they're get that yard has a rain Garden all private property all U of M Property um let's say it pretend it's redeveloped to meet our current stormwater standards and in all streets are revised to uh or redeveloped to be green students what would what would the flood plain look like so the result was we know there'd be a major Improvement in water quality and significant reduction in flooding for smaller events basically up to about the 10-year event but the hundred year or one percent annual chance looks about the same so in other words we can't build ourselves out of floodplain the floodplain management is uh the need for it is not going to go away I mentioned the um floodplain management overlay zoning District I just want to go through two different aspects of it there's lots of different aspects of it about how high you build and um what the threshold for when things kick in change but there are some prohibitions for the floodway and for the flood Fringe and I've mentioned the floodway is the area where it's more dangerous more destructive So within the flood Plains we now prohibit critical facilities new residential uses new buildings additions increases and and closed floor area creating habitable space that would be like this happens all the time where someone wants to put bedrooms in a basement uh egress windows and doors accessory structures structures without foundations like trailers toilets because toilets run continuously during a flood and send all the flood water to the um water treatment plant or other wastewater treatment plant we prohibit fill and then parking lots there's there's some limitations to when parking lots are are allowed but mostly we don't allow parking loans and then this this is the limitations on the flood Fringe so there are a little there are fewer limitations but um critical facilities are prohibited structures without foundations egress windows and toilets and that is kind of a little overview of floodplain management so I can take questions uh if necessary we can pull up uh flood maps if you want to look at those or we could just go from things on the presentation um yeah thank you Jerry um yeah please uh raise your hand using the feature and zoom um John you have your hand up and then Dharma Akron thanks Jerry we appreciate your service and excellent presentation I got three quick questions that I'll just fire away and hopefully you can answer them quickly first of all I thought that the city's flood maps had been changed from a one percent annual change chance to a 500 year and you reference the 100 years several times or the one the one percent um and I'm wondering what what the status of that is and I'm wondering if on slide 18 the model delineated um is based on the 0.2 percent or the one percent on slide eight you talk about a special flood Hazard area I'm wondering if you can explain to us what that is and then I'm wondering if some of the callers talked about construction or no construction at a particular site in the flood plain and whether that would and that that might release um toxins and and I'm wondering if whether there's construction or no construction whether that has any impact whatsoever on the release of any contaminants in the soil those are the three questions thank you okay um so our Maps the the flood maps do show the the one percent and they also show the 500 year which is called the 0.2 percent it's just that there are very few regulations related to the related to the um the 0.2 percent so we don't talk about it very much because the the in in CD code we don't have any regulations in that area and uh in the city in the building code there are some uh critical facilities are required to be elevated above the the point two percent um one of the things in our uh our regulations at the city since the building code requires critical facilities to be elevated above the point two percent we have now required that for all buildings so any building that has to be elevated um the height now would need to be elevated above the 0.2 percent uh and it's actually one foot above that the building code is one foot above the one percent um so sorry I was I had that app up there where'd that go so on this particular uh map the red shows the floodway the Orange shows the one percent and the yellow shows the two percent and that though that's right from FEMA that's on the FEMA Maps already so it does show both um and you ask about our model what our model is based on the our model is is based on all storms you can put any size storm into it and get an answer showing that particular storm for our analysis of how our model compares to the FEMA model we only compared it to the one percent just because that's where most of the regulations revolve around the one percent and that's and even flood insurance flood insurance isn't required beyond the one percent so like this map here the areas between the orange and the yellow flood insurance wouldn't be required so it's just that well we don't often show it because there's there's so little regulation within it um and then you ask about the special flood Hazard area that's just that's just a FEMA term for any of these areas that we're showing they're all special flood Hazard areas if it has a flood zone it's a special flood Hazard area um and then your question about toxins I am definitely not the right person um contamination is not my area of expertise I really uh wouldn't have be able to answer that accurately it is common uh for floodplain managers to talk about Vehicles parked in the flood plain because it's just like you know sort of like common sense if there's oils and stuff on the vehicles it will get into the flood waters and cause cause pollutants thank you um let's see Dharma had her end up with Tom Rita I don't know what happened to her my question was answered it was about the 500 here so thank you Sarita your hand is up thank you thank you uh thank you Jerry um so I have I'll try and do mine as a sequence as well um and my first question has to do with the community rating system and if we were so we're currently at a class five that influences our community rating system for insurance what if we went to a class six what would be the outcome of that in terms of um what it would affect on the insurance rates [Music] um I'd also like to know like if you could just go over again the um the comment that you had about how we can't build our way out of this um you know so we've had improvements made and we've got requirements on um sites retaining the the rain that falls on them for first flush I believe it is um I'd like to understand that a little better um and then like I think this is my last one for now the the whole um thing about it the models that you've used are based on what FEMA has currently are there future projections that are available that would be useful to us now uh let's talk about the CRS first um let me find this chart here so we're actually at a class six and improving would go to we would go to a class five and the result would be we would lower the flood insurance by another five percent from we currently get a five percent or twenty five percent I'm sorry a 20 discount and we would we would get a 25 discount and uh we're fairly close I mentioned that we have a few more points than than is currently published uh we're about 91 points um it getting points requires quite a bit but we haven't we have some things identified in the flood Hazard mitigation plan that you know over the next few years if we Implement those projects we will more than likely get to a class five uh-huh the the program is very complex and there are there are some prerequisites to get past certain points um the prerequisites to get past a five would require that we regulate storm water on a watershed basis which which is a great idea but doesn't really fit in with Michigan's um government structure because we have so many different communities we'd have to get everyone in each of the watersheds that touch Ann Arbor to all agree to regulate like we do um so it's it's not likely that we would ever get Beyond a five okay but we could get to five so yes getting to five is within sight right and this is while we're on that though that when you say we isn't that that's those people who have flood insurance right so it applies to those people in the city who are required to have flood insurance based on their Federal federally backed mortgage is that correct yeah well I'm saying we I mean the city in general but yes the the um discount applies to every single policy within the city so you don't have to be in the flood plain to get flood insurance you can buy flood insurance no matter where you're at it's only required if you're in the um one percent annual chance flood area so um can you remind me what the other sure um the the you can't build your way out of it comment um right how do we how do we take that how do we so what I what I mean is like um so we do we do all this great stormwater uh mitigation work by requiring detention and uh for rain Gardens and all and green infrastructure and we can make improvements to where we're not experiencing flooding in smaller events but for these larger events we're still going to have a flood plain that looks about like it does now so I just mean you you can't do enough storm water management to make the flood plain go away yeah okay um um just the projections for more intense and frequent storms and how that is that accommodated for in in what we've looked at so far uh where our current maps are based on uh the 98 estimates that uh Noah that Noah put out so there are current maps already use a smaller event that doesn't necessarily mean that the floodplains automatically lower when when uh FEMA does flood mapping they come around to the communities and look for information so next time they come around we'll give them our flood model and our flood model we did uh actual measurements of flow in the storm system and we found that there was a lot less flow in it than was used in the model so they used a small or a smaller event but had higher flows so that there are some things that balance out um can I I say this knowing in particular for Allen Creek because of the um the the berm opening project we're trying to change the flood maps and uh FEMA is going to make us go through the a change for all of Allen Creek and it's because our model shows that the flood plain within Allen Creek is a few inches lower than the FEMA model now because we use better Contour there may be areas where even a lower flood plain would show a wider flood plain in some areas but the flood elevation is going down a little bit so FEMA said we have to chase that all the way out to the end of it so that that's an effort that's actually gonna we're going to be going through over the next year is doing a an update to the Allen Creek floodplain model in it it's not necessarily going up it's going to go down slightly but that's just the like the 100 Year elevation would go down maybe that the tenure goes up but okay thank you okay all right Sarah you're you're you have the floor hi Jerry thank you for that presentation um I was particularly I had questions on slide four and five um I'm just kind of thinking about Allen Creek as a very special type of floodplain area since it's not actually an open Creek it's a drain that's underground um so kind of comparing your modeling to the open Creeks listed here you know mallets Creek Traver Creek how um how are those inputs different and um I'm assuming it's taken into account that it's like a submerged drain versus a uh open River or Creek yes that and it is taken into account in the modeling it's it's just a different type of model that's used in open Creek versus in closed Creek it's a little more complicated to do to model an enclosed Creek but to give you a sense of um of scale in an undeveloped watershed the runoff that fills a creek we call the Bank full flood and that equals about a two-year event or a 50 chance of that in Allen Creek because they basically enclosed the creek and the space that they had that the creek took up it acts just like a regular Creek water is in the pipe and under the ground until we get rains of about a two-year event and then we start seeing surface flooding so so it's really not that different than any other Creek you just don't see it until the flooding starts whereas in an open Creek you can kind of see the Water Rising and then oh my gosh here it comes so are you saying like along the Allen Creek drain like you actually will see surface water coming up when it's past that like two-year flood s yes yep so like and there's a few areas where you'll start seeing it a little bit before that right next to the fish park at King's land first is one of the areas Depot Street manhole covers blow up Road yes there's a few local low spots within that starts a little bit earlier but generally you're going to start seeing surface flooding around a two-year event in Allen Creek okay thanks John you have your hand up you have the floor thanks Jerry can you comment from your perspective what the difference is if any are between the former DTE site where the Broadway West development is going in 721 North Main and 415 West Washington because there's there's various types of developments that are approved or being considered for all three of those sites uh so comparing the the various sites so the DTE site uh that well that's privately owned so they simply need to follow or build or you know planning codes and building codes um I find that site particularly frustrating in that it's immediately Downstream of a dam but there but we don't have regulations around that not at the state level or not at the local level um there are some recommendations that the state provided me that I provided provided to the developer and they did change their building design to accommodate to give you an example of like you know if if big walls holding up a building are uh perpendicular to the wave that would happen if a Dam breaks that would be particularly vulnerable but if they're parallel to the flow if they're the likelihood of damage decreases and so they change some of their design uh based on those recommendations so um so that that was a positive thing um 721 North Main uh it the that site because we received a FEMA Grant to remove structures the flood way portion of that site is deed restricted and cannot be redeveloped um there is an effort right now to split off a small area of that site that's completely out of the flood plain it's up on Summit Street to uh allow for affordable housing to happen there that's completely fine from a floodplain standpoint because it's not in the flood plain what happens with the rest of the site you know we still have to have to decide but the floodway portion of it which here I think I think I have that on one of the slides you can see here yeah so the area in red that portion of the site is deed restricted [Music] um and then 415 West Washington is I don't have a map of that up up here but it's similar it has floodway area and it has flood Fringe area and um as you know from my comments and from the callers I wasn't supportive of that because it's contrary to the direction that I've been given by city council for the last you know nearly 20 years of uh doing floodplain management since we started to first flood mitigation plan so um let's say given the time let's be quick about any further q a on this topic so Rita you have your hand up you're muted there we go okay sorry um yeah I think I wanted to just touch on one more uh point about um residential in flood Fringe areas and um the whole point of um if federal funds aren't allowed for housing for affordable housing in flood Fringe areas just the whole like is there any difference for anyone to have residential in that same particular space um I think first you have to ask the question of you know like where do regulations come from and and so for instance the building code the building code that we use is based on a national code and there are you know the building industry has say and what goes into those and so and so that they you know they're the building industry has say as to what goes into FEMA regulations so it's it's building codes and those regulations are regulating private development um and so they I feel like those codes are are only as strong as what the public including the building industry allows um to me there's a huge difference between asking that question about Land We the city owns versus Pro a private development um and landed Studios we should be following similar rules like like what FEMA follows for themselves so FEMA the federal government has rules that Federal money can't be spent on development in the flood plain I don't personally see why that would be any different for for local communities so I personally think there is a difference between private development and public lands and and that's based on what what FEMA requires and what the national flood insurance recommendations are all right um thank you let's see so I think I think we'll move on to the next one but I just have a few comments Jerry uh first of all I'd like to thank you uh for your all the all the data that you're presenting us and uh and your uh in your expert opinion um I think every everybody should um I think this is a topic that's going to come up repeatedly in the environmental commission over the next few years um and I just had one question and that is um have a the the university just announced a large development Upstream in Allen Creek there are no Bell field I believe right and so how much controls does the city have you know what I mean you know okay he says yeah yeah sorry I'm not trying to speak I'm sorry I'm just trying to get uh the car unloaded so I'm listening to you I'm sorry okay okay thank you yeah you're welcome Hey so um so um so how can the city be sure that whatever development is going to happen Upstream in Allen Creek you know in land that it's I'm not sure the city can control what the university does and how can the city be assured um that they will not get extra flooding in Allen Creek Downstream of that location [Music] absolutely so uh this this I may use this map to partially explain some of this so first of all the the university is not subject to uh local zoning and that's where our the city's floodplain regulations are in zoning they are subject to the building code but they don't come to us for building permits they get those to the state so so the university has to follow the building code um so uh there then there's a couple other levels of of you know different so the area that they're in actually so if you can see the map that I have up here um Hills the the current flood plain Hundred Year floodplain and floodway stop at Hill Street and and then there's a yellow area that goes beyond that that's the that's that 500 year or the 0.2 percent where there aren't very many regulations that's where they're proposing to build so um as far as the building code goes there they just can't build a uh or if they build a critical facility it would need to be elevated higher than an other facility that's about the only regulation um but there's one other Factor um the state of Michigan also regulates flood Plains but they're they only can regulate where the contributing area to the property that um you're asking to build on is greater than two square miles and the area where that building is proposed is less than two square miles so the state doesn't have jurisdiction so we have little jurisdiction and the state has a little jurisdiction as far as floodplain management goes but they but they do have to follow the building code okay all right well um um last call for any questions we could take one more no I don't hear and see any so let's move on thank you Jerry um thank you and but I'll just urge I'll just make one final comment that I urge everybody to read the city's Hazard mitigation plan and uh in preparation for the next time the subject comes up um the next item on the agenda is a resolution and support of an accelerated action on an ordinance to ban an actual gas connections and new construction and major Renovations and in support of devising and implementing interim measures to incentivize incentivize I think all the electric construction so um let me put this attachment up during our discussion I'll share my screen so that we can go through this let's see can everybody see that okay all right Rito do you want to uh manage this discussion or uh for John I'll do a quick cut uh what if I could I'll do a quick intro and then I'll pass it to John if that's okay with you John um I'm uh asked to discuss this item in the interest of the serious concern that that we all should have I think and do have um with the climate crisis that has been announced and identified this week by the ipcc as being really serious um and that our need for our community and for way beyond our limits is to reduce our carbon emissions as soon as possible and to thereby at least attempt to affect the um temperature raised that is it's affecting everything that we touch so with that in mind this was one area where we could have an effect that could um out balance the the emissions related to new construction by just having that new construction not be carbon emitting in the long run so there'd be a first burp as I've heard it described of carbon emissions during the construction but afterward that particular building should be clean from excess carbon emissions so that's that's my intro um John would you like to add anything in particular or um this uh resolution was drafted by Ken Garber it was provided to me I indicated that I was in favor of a resolution like this uh and I added some content in the whereas Clauses and added the second resolved clause uh just for some background information that many of you will know uh the city approved the 31st natural gas connected project uh last Monday since a20 was approved in June of 2020.
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