001Welcome everyone. Seeing a quorum of voting members, we will call the April 16th CPS and City of Cincinnati Healthy Neighborhoods Committee meeting to order. Um, Mr. Gustin, Treasure Wagner, would you call the role? Mr. Craig here. Mr. Crosset here. Mr. Lindy here. Miss Matt here. Mrs. Weinberg here. Vice President Bolton present. President Moffett here. Do you need to call roll for yourself? So for for Cincinnati City Council, we don't actually call roll at committee, but I would like to introduce my council members. Um we have council member Scotty Johnson. We have Council Member Anna Albi and I guess Wow. Okay. And and more to come, I'm sure. I would also like to thank our team who's here. Um we have Ian Doy from our legal department. We have Gerald Forson from our department of community
002and economic development. uh Melissa Autri who's our clerk of council and also uh Steve Soil and our team from city cable who are also broadcasting this and thank you all of you for being here today. So if you've if you've attended the meeting before you kind of know the vice mayor and I tag team this. So we're going to do that again today. It's very uh it's kind of comedic a little bit sometimes too. So we're going to just amend the agenda a little bit at the advice of the vice mayor. She's going to move up one a brief presentation and update from Mrs. Rolley and have her come up and talk about You want to introduce her? Okay. Thank you so much. So, Mrs. Iris Roelly is a consultant to the city manager uh
003and she made a presentation uh in council member Johnson's public safety committee and really about plans for summer safety, need for volunteers. And so we thought this would be really good information for all of us who are invested in CPS. So Mrs. Roelly, thank you so very much to the board and to council and to the folks out here. My name is Iris Roelly. I serve in a role consultant to the city manager collaborative agreement collaborative agreement public safety and policing. um what we are going to talk about and I'm talking fast because I want the project manager of the project to speak and I just want to be Vanna Black and hold up the products. The reason you all of you all on the board that got t-shirts because I was going to bring
004two for Dr. Smith and for Dr. Moffett but that wouldn't have been fair and I don't need another fight. So I'm going to move out the way and then when he gets done if there is time I just want to share the data with you. This is a Walnut Hills alum. Thank you guys for having me today. Uh so what we are doing right now, we're working on the last 30 days of school to lead to a safe and productive summer. Um what we're doing, we're having volunteers plus trained staff come to a transit site and do one of the four things. First one is feed the kids, pass out information that they can use during the summertime for maybe employment, internships, anything like that that they can do for engaging. Be there for as
005a for our volunteers. They're going to be there as an adult to create a safe space for these kids. They have questions, ask them how their day was, anything like that. And then finally, pass out swag bags that have dental hygiene, hygiene products, journals, pens, flashlight, any daily needs, we putting on bags for those kids. We are there from 2:00 to 7:00 every day, Monday through Friday. The four sites that we'll be at is Glenway Crossing, Government Square, North Side, North Side, and Oakley Station. And the two high schools that we're at is Wrow and Hughes. Uh on the average we see about 646 kids on a daily that come through all of these sites plus those high schools. And so when the volunteers get there on their first day, there's going to be a
006government square with our trained staff. They sit there with a day their two hours with them down there. They learn how we operate and what we do. And then we send out to another site with one lead, a CACI lead at that site and then they go out there and do the same thing over and that's it. Thank you, Mr. Roelly. And so I wanted to say since we've been down on Government Square February 2024, I'm going to butcher the numbers. I do apologize, but TPD data reflects that violence on Government Square and Fountain Square has been reduced by 50%. Please don't read much into the the PowerPoint. It was a 10-minute put together because we were told to get to to council to present in front of the law and public safety. However, we
007want to do the same thing at all of the sites and two of the high schools because we've seen an uptick in violence. And if you've read the collaborative agreement and are its refresh, you know that public safety goes handinand with police transparency and accountability. All these things matter. What we need from you all is to share. We're going to send you a formal letter. Share it with your networks. Put your t-shirt on. go to one of the transit sites just for two hours. Assist those of us. We have the 311 community responders, CPS's security, the collaborative agreement, community care initiative folks are there, so they need to see more people. I was just speaking with Miss Amber and asking her to take on Glenway Crossing and she said to me that that is not
008the area where people need to go. So, we're going to modify as community dictates, but we need y'all for these last 30 school days to promote a safe and productive summer. And and let's roll into the next school year with a peaceful learning mindset. The number to call if you're interested, the number is 513658-5246. That number is open 247. Once again, the number is 513-658-5246. And also, if you would like to donate anything and you would like to email or email caci.youdrive 255gmail.com with information with a barcode. Information with a barcode. Yes, ma'am. Is any information Jeremiah one more time with the email, please? Okay. Yes, ma'am. The email is caci.youdrivegmail.com. And if you Oh, u drive or the letter U. U Y O U T H. Yes, ma'am. Youth. She's telling you to speak
009like you want the walnut. Yes, ma'am. Miss Met. Yes, ma'am. Uh last thing is if you have anything you like to donate, you have guys have any organizations, any foundations, ministries like that? We are accepting anything these kids can use on a daily need. That could be towels, washcloths, dental hygiene, regular hygiene. If you send out any information, if it has a QR code on it, that's even perfect. So we can put on a QR code, they can scan it and go about their way. We not trashing downtown anymore, stuff like that. Greatly appreciate your time. Thank you, Dr. Moffet, for the bags. You're welcome. Thank you so much. And all of the supplies that you donated, not just this iteration of this project, but in the beginning as well. Thank you so very much
010you all. I expect to see you in those t-shirts at one of the sites. Thank you. Yes. All right. Thank you so much, C. there. I if if not already, there might be an opportunity to collaborate a little bit more. The uh CPS uh has a business advisory council which is primarily functioning to find students summer internships. Okay. So, if you don't have that on your list already, connect with us and we'll add that to your list. Did not know it existed, Mr. Crockett. So, please give us that information. If you need us to write down an email for you or shoot you one this tonight, we will we'll get it to you. Thank you all so very much. Any other questions? Bo Weinberg, I don't have a question. Just a well, quick statement. If
011you could take your information that you just stated. Um, right behind you is our board um staff right there. If you could just give that to her, Miss Phyllis, so that it can be sent out to the board as well. I tried to write down that email. I was a little slow there. So, I rather she can help. We'll make sure you get it all in a formal email with all the correct information. Thank you all. All right. Thank you so much. [Applause] Okay. So, at the advice of the vice mayor, we're still modifying the agenda a little bit and she would like to do the hearing of the public at this moment. So, she she needs her readers. So, I'm going to read the names. Do we have any more pat? Do we have
012anyone online? Rob, we haven't announced online. So, okay. So, we have we're going to quickly give you five minutes for the online people and then um Rob will turn that off. If you are online and you want to speak, you will have two minutes and you can put that in the chat. Rob, can you give the directives in the for the online people and then we're going to read the names and you will have two minutes to speak. I think I'm supposed to read this because she doesn't have her glasses. So, members of the public who are online and wish to speak during our hearing of the public this evening may do so by clicking the chat button now. The chat feature will be open for your request for 5 minutes. If you would like
013a direct response to your questions, please make sure to share your name, your affiliation to the district or the city, and your school community, your topic, and your contact information. Let's start with um please forgive me if I mess up the names. Andrea Shank, Les Castro Skank, my apologies. Less Castro, Amy Castro, and John Zenzen. You're gonna come around. Yes. Yeah, I'm gonna just There's only three more. Mona Jenkins, no name, and Don Johnson. So, that's all that we have so far. That is Christina Mastic. No, just and this is Amber Cassm, right? You can begin, Miss Skank. Thank you. Thank you everyone for the opportunity to speak. I'm wanting to talk about the Hide Park development and I think the importance of having an MOT, a maintenance of traffic study and my comments are
014motivated by my personal experience of having signed for a lease for a retail space, opening a gallery, and then shortly thereafter learning that the street I was located on was going to undergo a year's length construction for streetscape. And that was devastating to my business. And I'm just thinking about student safety. I'm also thinking about this distraction of construction noise today. There was some jackhammer going off that I heard with through the open window in Hide Park and think it was so disruptive. And then also CPS's limited budget for safety. And I can't imagine the developer not having talked to the school yet to say what would be happening with construction. It's a three plus year process. So that requires a lot of pre-planning and a lot of alternative considerations. Also with regards to pedestrian
015safety, a hotel is not included in the zoning because it's a residential business area. By nature of hotels, guests being transient, they are not going to know the traffic patterns. What time do people check typically check in? It's around the time when students are being picked up. So again, lots of congestion, not really being thought through. Thank you. Thank you, Les Castro. Good evening. My name is Les Castro. I'm a civil engineer and my wife Amy, who will be speaking after me, is a retired school teacher. We've lived in Hide Park for the past seven years on Observatory Avenue, directly across the street from Hide Park School. With the upcoming vote on the zoning change for the Hide Park Square development, we wanted to shed some light on legitimate safety concerns around the school. Concerns
016that this development, as currently proposed, will only worsen. You've likely heard about the ongoing traffic concerns around the school. We're here tonight to bring those realities to to bring realities to those concerns because we don't just witness it daily. We personally experience the consequences. From our house, we see the chaos that unfolds each day during school drop off and school pickup. And every day, we watch with unease as cars race to get around the school as fast as possible while children and pedestrians simply try to stay safe. We've seen it all. We've seen a seven-year-old suffer a broken leg from being hit by a car. We've seen crossing guards nearly hit while protecting children at the intersection of Edwards and Observatory. And we've personally experienced three separate incidents where our vehicles crash were crashed into
017while they were legally parked. Two of our vehicles were completely totaled. I'm going to turn over to my wife to share some of those details. Hi, I'm Amy Castro. I'm retired school teacher. I hold an advanced degree from Xavier with an administrative degree for uh education. and I held a principal's lure. As a retired teacher, I wanted to live across the street from the school. On the morning of February 28th, 2020, a car traveling eastbound on observatory slammed into our legally parked vehicle on the south side of the street. The impact was so violent, our car was pushed 150 ft down the street. Did you actually just took 30 seconds from your husband, so keep Oh, I'm sorry. That's all right. On the morning of February 28, 2020, a car traveling eastbound on Observatory slammed
018into our legally parked vehicle on the south side of the street. The impact was so violent, our car was pushed 150 ft down the road. The driver then struck an oncoming car and didn't stop until it reached the side of the street. The third car involved traveled up over the sidewalk on the Hard Park school side, 200 feet from the original crash. Had this occurred 15 minutes later during school drop off, the outcome would have been catastrophic because those three cars would have cost multiple lives. Children and parents would have been hit by all three cars. There would have been losses of lives, children and adults. So, I'm curious, how many dead kids and parents is it going to take for this be okay? 1 2 10. On June 5th, 2022, a westbound driver struck
019another one of our cars which was parked on the legally north side of Observatory. The impact caused the driver to flip their car sideways traveling on two wheels until it landed upside down four houses away again right before drop off and pickup in the morning. Our most recent January 22nd, 2023, another eastbound driver hit our legally parked car, causing $12,000 worth of damage. And because of all the previous ones, I was out of a car for 6 months because we couldn't afford to buy another one because we'd lost the three before. We're grateful that in December 2024, the city through funding provided solely by Hyde Park School took a smart and muchneeded step to restriping Observatory, one lane in each direction, providing fulltime parking on the street. This change created a muchneeded buffer between pedestrians
020and passing vehicles. Before then, the two lanes were always four cars full. Four lanes of traffic sped through three to four feet from each other while parents and te parents and children were trying to cross the street. Am I done? Thank you, Miss C. I'm sorry, Mr. Zinsen. Mona Jenkins. Good evening and thank you. I'm glad to be here again with you um both to the council members as well as to the board. I came before you last Monday and presented the results of the survey of the parents and faculty at Hyde Park School. Quick reminder, 90% of them currently are concerned about traffic. 94% of them are very concerned about traffic over the next 2 to three years during construction and beyond. And the one number that I really wanted you to hold on
021to, 95% of those parents are turning to you looking for support and help. They want to take part in a study to make sure that there is a proper plan with their input to address this. The safety of these children, yours from Hide Park School, as well as the preschool at Knox and St. Mary's, just a bit further away, is in question here. This morning at 11:15 a.m., I crossed Observatory on Edwards, the street I live on, a soccer ball comes flying out of the school. I go and pick it up dodging cars. I throw it back to a teacher and he lets the kids keep going. Any other time the kids could have run out and grabbed it. It does happen. I am asking Cincinnati public school board to use whatever they can to
022ask Cincinnati City Council to slow this down. Approving a PD next Tuesday and Wednesday would put these children at greater risk. There deserves to be time and study on this. I do not feel that Cincinnati public schools, as was the case for neighborhood councils, business associations, and other civic organizations received the appropriate respect and involvement in this process. My understanding is the developer never communicated with the school or the board about this specific piece. I hope you will do whatever you can to encourage city council to please slow this down. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Jenkins. Johnson Mastitch. Good evening. One of my beloved mentors is always constantly reminding me to put the child first. We are the child's village. And so I want to take this time to ask that now that we have
023city CPS. I am the president of the Walnut Hills area council. It is time for us to start having collective conversations about what is happening across our city. We have all been operating in silos and things have been happening. Our housing crisis has increased which has affected CPS which is affecting our communities and if we are not all in these conversations of understanding what is truly happening, it's going to continue to get worse. In the 10 years I have been in front of both of you all to ask for putting the best interest of our children first, I have seen the housing crisis get worse and it is only going to increase with the current circumstances. I have talked to a number of families. County needs to be included. Our rec centers need to be
024included. The housing choice voucher program CHA it needs to be included. These vouchers are getting cut. It's going to get worse. So, I ask that we somehow figure this out because it's not just housing, it's food, it's transportation, it's everything and we can't continue. So I'm offering myself along with other I know I have talked to other council presidents that they are feeling this way that we are often not heard in these conversations that the voice that we are tasked with within our communities of sharing their concerns things that are not thought about when we do development. There are things that I don't think about that you all do. There are things that you don't think about that I do. We can't get anywhere if we're doing this in silos. Thank you. Good evening. My
025name is Don Johnson and I'm the president of the North Aenddale Neighborhood Association. I first want to say that I stand with Hyde Park. I also stand with Mona. But the reason that I'm here today is because I just recently adopted a child that um is a Centai public school student. And the blessing in all of this is the fact that it it really gave me a lens as to exactly what's going on these days. And I want to say that today actually it took her about four hours to get home from Schroeder. She got home about Yeah. six six o'clock right before I got right before I got here. And that's because she has to take several buses. She was waiting at the Oakley station for a while. She said that the first bus
026was full. Um, you know, this this is ridiculous. We got to rethink about this transportation situation. It's dangerous. We set these kids up to uh, you know, be there's like a hub. There's a whole bunch of these kids in Oakley, Clifton. They're acting up and these businesses are like now nobody under 18 can come in our businesses. Well, what are they going to do over the summer? You know, like I'm like, "Hey, go out there, have fun." She She went to Oakley to go to several the movies, several different places, and they wouldn't let her in because I wasn't there. So, what is a teenager to do? Like, we have set them up to do nothing except get into trouble. So, if you really care about these kids, you care about our community, I do
027agree with Mona. We need to we have a need to have a conversation because it's not this isn't working out and these kids are at risk. They're unsafe. Okay? So, if you really do care about our community and our kids, yeah, we need to have a discussion because what's happening now is not working. Thank you. Thank you, Christina Mastitch and Amber Kase. Kasem Cassm. Hello, I'm Christina Maritic. I'm a 34 year resident of Hyde Park, public school teacher, 30 years. My husband and I have two public school students in the district. And like many of the others who have spoken, my main concern is just traffic safety, especially since in June of 24, we all know that the connected communities was codified. And so when the fall came and Edwards and Observatory and the lanes
028were changed to slow down traffic and create buffer zones for the sidewalks, we were all really relieved is the best description. Which is all the more shocking to so many of us that the appointed planning committee members voted yes to proceed according to what the developer wants, not the new zoning rules, not the new zoning laws. So we kindly ask the elected members of city council to please thoughtfully include the citizenry, those here to speaking to you tonight. And um this is an election year. Thank you very much. Thank you. And last last we have Amber Amber Cassm. I apologize if I messed up anybody's name. Hi everyone. Um, thank you. Um, first I want to thank CPS because last year I think it was Where's Miss Bolton at? Um, she hosted a meeting and
029we were having in Price I'm from Price Hill. I'm the president of the community council. I'm also on the LSDMC. FYI guys, the LSDMC districtwide meeting is at the very same time as this. So, when you're talking about parent involvement and community involvement, I mean, let's again, like Mona was saying, break down those silos and let let's be easy on us. Um, but I want to say that we had a really hard time staffing crosswalk guards. Um, this year we are at 97% full complement to the crosswalk guards. So, thank you CPS for getting that um taken care of. That's been a challenge for um a couple years. Um, also just to let the community council members know, my community council and through my actions, I reinstated a food pantry at our school. That is
030money that we do with our um, NSP money. So, that's something that again, if the city were to help use the school as a hub and as a resource instead of having all of these fragmented um, you know, service vendors that nobody knows what's going on. Um, I think that would be really helpful. Um the one thing that we still need in Price Hill are Spanish speaking and um black and brown people in the schools so that kids in my neighborhood can see themselves in those positions and in those roles and roles um and having that. Um, also, um, just to let you know, and this goes back to the Hyde Park, um, that our community did vote to sit down with Side Park Hide Park. Um, PLK in chambers in planning commission said that
031they What's this timing mean? I don't even see it. You have 14 seconds. Okay, thank you. Um, said that in their model for public safety was to use police. We can't even get police coverage for our little league football games and baseball games and and at there. So, that's not going to work. You guys need to work on safety in a different way and not approve Hide Park. Thank you. And Rob, we have no online speakers, so we are done with our hearing of the public. Great. Okay. Okay. On to our agenda. Uh the first item is CPS crossing guards and superintendent Shauna Murphy. Thank you so much. We have our chief operations officer, Mr. Chris Burkhart, who will bring a little bit of information about where we are with crossing guards. Good evening. Thank
032you for letting me give you an update to crossing guards and CPS. So, uh CPS officially took over crossing guards of February this year. There are currently 160 locations within the city that are crossing guards help our young students cross the street to get to school and to get home. Currently, we have 138 138 of those staffed with a permanent person. The rest of them, we have temporary folks who are doing double duties and volunteers um with those sites until we can get someone uh staffed. Uh this is a shameless plug that if anyone would like to become a crossing guard, we actually have these at each one of the intersections where we need a crossing guard. So if you see this sign, it means we need a crossing guard at this intersection. So we
033have a QR code at the bottom as well as a phone number. We're asking folks to apply to be a crossing guard if that is something that you would like to do. Uh since taking over the crossing guards in February, a lot of great things have happened. We have outfitted all of our crossing guards with um new reflective clothing so that they can be be seen, high visibility, uh trench coats as well as the crossing sign um as well as a whistle. Uh we want to make sure that they have all the tools that they need to do their job. Additionally, we they've all been retrained. So, all of them have been trained by CPS individuals. They're currently going through um auditor of state fraud training which is required by law that all CPS employees
034go through. So we're go we have that in process right now. And then finally the current assessment of all of the uh safe routes to school. So we're looking at every school and school campus and streets around the schools to look at signage to look at crosswalks. Do they need to be repainted? Do we have the flashing speed signs up? Do we have the speed limit signs up? Do we have traffic uh um traffic humps? Do we have speed warning signs? What are we seeing actually at each one of those? So, we're taking a day at each school and looking at all how students are coming to school, what uh issues they may have and then trying to mitigate those. We're going to have that done by the end of the school year. We have
035do have ongoing meetings with DOT with the city uh every other week and as we see things we have discussions about how we can make this safer as a community and not just one off. So want to applaud their help and support in the process and we would love anyone who would love to be a crossing guard please apply uh online or give us a call at the phone number. Thank you so much. Um quick question. So, what's the what's the age the minimum age to be a crossing guard? Anyone over the age of 18? Oh, 18 or over. Okay. Uh, any special qualifications? They must love kids. Okay. They have to love kids. I love that. All right. Thank you so much. Any questions? Um, council, I'm sorry, board member. How do you all
036say this? Board member. Okay. Member Member Math. Nice alliteration there. Member Math. Thank you for the presentation. So I see that there's 138 cross and guards hired. Can you state the percentage of how many need to um be filled? How many positions would need to be filled to So we have 22 positions that need to be filled across the city. Those are currently being filled by other crossing guards who want to do double duty, for example. Um but that's not a long-term solution. So we're still trying to hire a crossing guard specific to every location of the 160 locations that we have. Okay. Thank you. I I did hear you say that but thank you for reining it. Um the second question so I know that you all are assessing the safety. Do we provide
037our students with any kind of education or information about how they also can stay safe while you know traveling to and from school? Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. So one of the initiatives that we are looking forward to is uh twofold. One is do a lot of video training. So, we're going to provide those resources to not only our crossing guards and have uh training um from the police as well as our CPS staff. And then we're also going to develop that same type of um safe safe uh tra uh safe routes to school training for each one of our students as well. So that um each one of the school leaderships team can show that as part of um the the back to school. Um we hope to have that at this
038August. Um, but that's pretty aggressive. So, uh, I don't want to say that uh, for sure, but that's our goal. Okay. Thank you. That's good to know. I didn't know that that was something that you all were looking into. So, thank you for that. Okay. Member Weinberg. Thank you so much for the presentation. I just have a quick comment and then a quick question regarding the current assessment that you have been doing. Um, I know high schools are some of our top areas that have a lot of concerns, whether it's our children are getting hit or just different things. Can you provide a time frame especially for some of those high target areas for particular high schools um that you plan to either kind of fix some of those problems or naming some of those
039particular schools that you have a high interest in making sure that one all of our schools are safe, but I know that we have a scale as well. So there there's three high schools that we've been targeting um that I think need the most um uh addressing the most needs first. Uh one would be um Woodward uh because of the uh high traffic in that area. Clark was another one. Um and the final one was uh Walnut Hills. Um, in all three of those, we saw uh vehicles that were traveling uh above a high rate of speed and we wanted to make sure that we could get some traffic calming in those areas. We have met with DOT on those. We do have plans moving forward. Um, as well as just a refresh. So, a
040refresh means uh making sure the stripes are visible, making sure our signage is visible. In some cases, our signs have been hit or they've weathered uh over a couple of years or multiple years. And so, we want to make sure all those things are visible as well as making sure that all of the schools have the flashing lights. And that's going to be phased in over time. So, that's not going to be once we know that they're not there. Um they're going to be they're not going to be put in right away, it's being phased in over the next three to five years. Thank you so much. And I would expect of course updates to the board regularly on this particular topic. Thanks. Thanks. All right. Any other questions? All right, Dr. Burkhart, thank you.
041So Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Member Lendy. I have to get these titles together. Thank you. Um I I just want to say thank you for the appreciation, the presentation. I love the signs and I wanted I don't think he'll be watching but just in case uh Ed Path is a parent at Hide Park School who is out in front of the school every day helping out because we have struggled to have a crossing guard and I just want to say Ed if you are listening to this uh on behalf of a grateful parent and board member want to say thank you uh and we are trying very hard to get you some backup uh and I just appreciate all of your efforts. Thank you. Thank you to all the eds out there. Okay, Mr. Birkhard,
042thank you so much. We appreciate it. Okay, rolling right along. Our next presentation is about uh the Dawn school update and we have Superintendent Shauna Murphy. Yes, ma'am. So, just a reminder, on the 28th of March, Don announced they would close schools. Uh and then on Sunday the 30th, made a phone call to members of our team to see if we can open up the district. So, I'm very grateful for our security team, for our customer care center team, for our school community partnership team, for several of our teachers and administrators and security, uh, for opening the doors. We were able to, at this point, I'll just skip and let you know, you can see the chart of the breakdown by school and by grade level. So to date uh 202 children that is with
043transcript, IEP, everything in hand. They are actively enrolled and attending school. Uh we do probably at this point have about another eight uh who we are still in need of their transcript to place them properly. Uh but it's rolling. We also have a group of school social workers. There's about three of them who are specifically working with Dawn students to make sure that they have a solid transition into school. So, not just enroll sign up, but they go and they go every day. So, feeling really good about where we are. Thank you so much. I just wanted to add so we spoke with um Bill Gity who is run is running the school. He's still there. He said he'll be there for a while just getting everything together. Um but first of all he um
044was like really really excited and pleased that CPS jumped in so quickly. I mean Dawn closed on Friday, you all were enrolling the students on Sunday. I mean it was just so quick and so he was really complimentary. He just said um CPS, this is his quote, CPS has been great. So I was really happy to hear that. He said things are going pretty well. Um there's some some of the students they're still trying to get in touch with because they've moved around and their emails and phone numbers have changed, so they're still trying to get in touch with some. Um he said there um in addition to CPS, there's some other schools that have jumped in to help. Uh the the really good news was that uh the graduation for this year's Dawn seniors
045will still happen. Uh there'll be a SE and and that includes the 120 adult education students, the 22 and older uh it's called the 22 plus program. I didn't I know you all know that but I didn't I didn't know about the 22 plus program. So um so I thought that was great. So So they are graduating at House of Joy on Saturday, May 3rd. So that's that's really good because we were all concerned about are the seniors going to graduate? So so that's really good. So, I just, you know, I really just want to thank you for that leadership. I I called Dr. Smith at home and I said, "What are we gonna do?" And she said, "Don't worry, we've got enrollment set up." So, I was really relieved. So, thank you for that.
046You're welcome. Before Before you leave, Superintendent Murphy, I want to um can you expand on the 22 Plus program and the Aspire program? One of the little known secrets is that we've always had those programs for um adult learners. This is nothing new. We didn't just jump into this because Don um Don's demise. We actually have been able to facilitate um students who have a need. So, can you just talk a little bit about programs that we already Absolutely. So, our Aspire program is our adult education program is located in our Ezar Charles building, the old QVC building across from Taft High School. It's also where Virtual High School is located as well as GDA. Robbie Thomas is the manager of that program. So, not only can you get a GED if you're interested um
047giving certain criteria, you can also earn a high school diploma. We do have a 22 plus adult education program. We do offer credentiing uh in that program as well. We also offer ESL MLL uh support for people who are non-English-speaking people. and uh it runs really well and she's been there for many years. Yes, Council Member Alb. Hey, uh thanks for the update. Quick question just for my uh edification. So, 202 students enrolled. How many students were there in the Dawn schools? Like how many do we still have kind of out there in the world? I am not at all certain how many students were enrolled at Dawn? Okay. I think there might have been a few thousand students enrolled at Dawn. Like I do we know what other 6 600 six 600 to total
048okay okay so about a third do do we have any sense where the other students are going really what I'm trying to get to is does that mean if they didn't enroll with CPS are they going to school in the fall I did see a letter very early on from their superintendent that gave a couple of other options other than CPS um including Mount Arbor Prep uh CCPA A but I am not sure if the students went there or not. Okay. So just kind of I'm sorry we couldn't hear. What was that? 15 to New Prospect I think is what Christian school. So we can and council member Ala we can actually get those numbers. There's some other schools that Mr. Gity talked about. Um there's Oakmont. Oakmont is coming here and some of the
049Dawn students are going there apparently. Performance Academy um and there's several of those. Career Prep on Main Street and then Superintendent Murphy mentioned some others. So there there are others besides CPS. Yeah, that'd be great. I again my concern is still trying to find some. Yeah, the students who you know we want to make sure students are are in school especially, you know, if they're supposed to be. So trying to make sure we catch as many as we can. So, thank you for CPS's efforts. Right. So, this is a message to all the Dawn students and parents out there. CPS wants you. I mean, that message went out loudly and clearly. CPS wants you to come to CPS school. So, um just give a shout out for that. Mr. Lendy, I'm sorry. Member Lundy, you're
050fine. I I respond to any any of those things. This is great. Um I wanted, I think, to echo uh gratitude for the work that the administration did so quickly. I think to be present and to be helpful and to enroll the students um uh in CPS during a really challenging time. Um I also you know I think we offer a lot in CPS uh that I hope can be of service to those families uh and I hope we can provide a more stable um financially sound uh organization um that'll be here for a long time. Um, and I also think it's important that we um offer an academic experience that is stronger than what they've experienced so far. And I think just in in the spirit of being honest and transparent, I think we
051also have our own work to do on that front. Um, if I'm reading this right, you know, the the schools that most of the Dawn students or I guess the most commonly enrolled in schools are Gilligan Digital Academy and Virtual. Uh, and I'm I'm glad we have those schools. I'm glad we have those students. Those two schools got one and a half stars on the state report card last year. And that's the same number of stars that Don got. Uh, and so I'm sharing that just because I think multiple things can be drew at once. I'm glad that we were there for the students. That was the right thing to do. we can provide a more stable environment and we have real work to do uh to make sure that every student in Cincinnati no
052matter where they go to school has access to an excellent education and so I'm excited for what we have done but want to keep our eye on where we need to go next also thanks I think board member map was next so just a quick question um to Vice Mayor Karnney about the graduation I'm glad that you brought that up because that was something that I was concerned about and I'm sure other people were concerned about as well. So, you said that they are hosting a graduation ceremony for those students. I'm just curious to know what that will look like considering that we do have students enrolled now in the district. Would there be a collaborative effort or what what would that graduation entail? So, unfortunately, Mr. Gity could not make it tonight. So, I
053I do not have details except what I said. So, the there are students who were ready to graduate. They have all their credits and they have all all of their requirements in addition to the 120 adults in the 22 plus program. So my understanding is that they are having a graduation together at the House of Joy on Central Parkway on May 3rd, Saturday, May 3rd. But now we can get more information about it. Okay. But what I think I'm gathering is for those students that already had their full credits, they'll be able to have the graduation ceremony and then it would be incumbent upon us for those students that's enrolled to identify what graduation looks like for them. So I'm wondering and I don't know and I'm happy to call the superintendent tomorrow, but I'm
054wondering if those are students who didn't choose to enroll with us because maybe they've completed their requirements and they're going to graduate with DAR. That was my understanding. But we can verify. My understanding was they are ready to graduate and so they will graduate. Okay. And so to the point of the students that have enrolled that are seniors, um wanting to identify if possible where they are and where they what uh path they're on to graduation as well. Yeah, absolutely. So these 202 we have their transcript um and so they should be placed by grade level appropriately because we understand how many credits they have. I might be missing something but I consider these now Cincinnati public school students who are planning to graduate with us. Maybe there's some um something missing u but we
055can follow through on that. This is the first time I heard about a dime graduation. We can follow through. Well, member Crosset. Yes. I I uh had the opportunity visit um the digital academy in virtual earlier this week and uh I think to to Ben's point, but also to um maybe you have an opportunity to research this, but some a number of those students are just especially the underassmen are just finishing out the school year there and then they will be placed in a in a high school somewhere else in the district next year. So it's not it's not a permanent uh thing for a number of those students for what that's for. And I just also want to say two things. We we have spoken for a length a a big amount of time
056around the school report card the stars now not being a true or the only representation of what's going on in that school. So I want to I to respect the fact that my colleague brought that up, but that doesn't we had Don had schools students that were graduating at the one and a half stars and so it's not a testament in totality of what is going on in that building. I also want to say thank you to the community people that came out and took their time out of their day at really a moment's notice because the superintendent informed the board like, "Hey, we're going to do this." and it was kind of like tomorrow and it was a Sunday and there was absolutely just consideration about making sure that the students knew before the
057end of the weekend that they were welcome in Cincinnati public schools. We want them opening up the doors. Um there we've got organizations. Um I know many community members brought oranges and fruit and snacks so that not only would they come to CPS and feel very welcome in the environment, but that they would have some snacks to to um and waters to have that too. So, it was really an example when we talk about breaking down silos of where the community came together at a moment's notice and became the village for the students because they were let down. So, um again, just because the building or the program has one and a half stars, please don't discount what the awesome stuff that's going on in that building. Our students are not relegated to stars. So,
058moving on from that, I want to bring up Thank you, Superintendent Murphy. You might want to stay there because we're talking about athletics and we're going to bring down our athletic director for the district, Mr. Josh Harden. And I believe the superintendent is going to play second on that. But we're going to get an an update at the city's request around athletics, the little league stuff, and how they can partner. Sure. I just um Mr. Hard, let me just say um why it's on on the agenda. So, Council Member Albi and I were at um Sheriff McGuffy's safety meeting. She has it every three weeks. And this particular meeting focused on youth leagues. And so a lot of the coaches were there and the parents involved and they were just talking about some of the
059problems uh some of the challenges they're facing funding for equipment um funding for uh uniforms training such as conflict resolution and they just wondered were there resources that CPS can offer and so I know CPS is already doing some work with the youth league. So we thought well let's just hear all about that. So, thank you. Absolutely. Yeah, I just wanted to share um so we want all of our facilities to be community learning centers that are open to our youngest uh students as well as our seniors. Um the fields, the gyms, uh so for all of our rentals, as we talk about youth football rentals and the youth football programs, um we've seen over the years that some of those rentals um after they occur, we've had damages to our facilities. Um uh we've
060had stolen items as well as uh most recently there's been gun violence. At that time u assistant city manager Virginia Talent approached me just to talk through some of the the rentals and the youth football programs and she put together a um a youth football collaborative group and um and put Gabriel Fletcher in charge of that group. Yes. Uh, and it includes myself, um, Captain Joe Richardson, uh, Tim Johnson from CRC. Uh, and in that group, we're we're just kind of talking about the things that have happened, the things that we can do to support the youth football programs, uh, and ultimately the things that would need to be in place to ensure uh, safety at at at all of our facilities. Uh so you can see up here some of the things that came
061from uh Cincinnati Police Department and their feedback limiting attendance um asking us to wand at entry uh and starting the events earlier in the day um and then enforcing coaches, students and parents signing off on sportsmanship rules. This is something that has come from CRC for some time as well. had a good conversation with past officer Eddie Hawkins earlier today who also met with CRC uh who's looking with his group to do some some trauma uh care and certification process with uh some of our coaches and so really want to support that. And then on our end uh we have talked with the programs about meeting with our school athletic directors aligning the events to be more like the high school events that we run and operate uh just for efficiency. uh where people are
062parking, how they're entering and exiting, where they're sitting, uh where staff members are set up. Uh and from the conversation we've had with the the the collaborative group and the feedback from uh CPD as well as um Gabriel Fletcher, I kind of had the idea of an application process for funding support. This is something that kind of came from a citizen city manager at the time, Virginia Talent. uh when she started she asked what is some of the deterrence and roadblocks for the youth football programs to be out at our facilities as you'll see uh the breakdown on what it would cost for our youth football programs to run an event with the recommended recommendations from Cincinnati Police Department and our internal team. Um CPD has recently gone from special event rates um that were
063um closer to $45 $50 an hour uh to now a time and a half overtime rate for all of these events which has caused the youth football programs as well as our internal to our athletic events that we host and have CPD a 75% increase in those rates that have heavily impacted CPS athletics and our events as well as of course uh the rentals here. Um so you'll see the three officers would be at $267 an hour. The recommendation from the officers and CPD was for us to wand at those events for safety. That would come at $124 an hour from our team. Of course, to keep our facilities nice and clean. Um the custodial uh would come out to be 74 an hour. Uh to have our athletic team there overseeing the event would
064be 25, excuse me, 25 an hour. And then the rental would be 60 an hour. So you'll see that for one of our youth football programs to come out and utilize the facility, keep it safe and clean, uh it would be about $550 an hour. They do charge at those um at those uh events at the door as well as for parking to help offset some of these cost, but uh we have identified that that is a high number for them to be able to come in and and have their events. And so that's, you know, as I was sharing with you, while we had had thought about an application process, uh, for funding support, um, which kind of was shared by assistant city manager, uh, Virginia Talon, she said that the city would consider
065it, but not until it was organized in a way, um, that there was a process. Okay. Okay. That's that's very helpful. Thank you for that. And, um, you know, one thing, there are some groups that are trying to help with security at the events. Brothers, Inc. is one of them. uh some groups around the city that um want to help. So, we do need to look at funding. You know, we can reach out to our business community, too, to see if they can fund some of these team or sponsor some of the teams. That would be great. Um the costs are pretty high and we can we'll talk to the city manager as well to see where we are with this. Um you know, we want we love love youth leagues. that really um you
066know gives our kids a chance uh to grow to be mentored um to increase their skills to have something fun to do to have that kind of family environment. Um there are a lot of a lot of positives as you know as the athletic director and playing sports. So we want to encourage it um but we have to get a hold of the cost. So so thank you for that explanation. I'll turn the floor over to Council Member Scotty Johnson. Sorry. Thank you. Um, and you know, it's unfortunate. Um, as the vice mayor said, this is something that we all want to see. We want to make sure that young people are occupied. Youth sports is something that I grew up on. There's just no substitute for what takes place with youth sports. But we
067have to be very frank and honest. Mhm. I've had community conversations with some of the people in these leagues and the reason why we have seen an uptick in violence and the reason why we've seen some shots fired uh gunplay at these events, the ridiculous amount of money that's being bet on these youth gains is ridiculous. So those difficult conversations we've had in the community, it's really up to the people attending those games to not make our children objects. Yeah. Another another difficult conversation is this too. Cincinnati police officers were working those details. But why would you want to spend your Saturday or Sunday in the sun, nice day, where there's possibly going to be shots fired? Cincinnati police do not I I get it. I was one for 33 years, but it's not their
068job to take a detail where deadly consequences may take place. Right? So the reality and the difficult conversation when it comes to our young people are this community stop betting on our children because that's really what has taken place and that is why Cincinnati police have stepped away. You cannot have youth football games where there are three and four and $5,000 bets taking place. people are dying for a lot less money. So, it's a difficult thing to talk about, right? But that is the reality of what's happening in some of these youth leagues. Thank you. Well, I'm really glad you you brought that reality to us. Um, you know, we've got to be honest. We're not going to solve a problem unless we face it. So, we've got to name that problem. We've got to
069do something about it. We're not going to put it under the rug. And our kids are too important. So, okay, Mr. Cross uh member Crosset, you're next. Yeah, that I uh well, thank you for that comment. That was very enlightening and new information for me. Um my thought was I know you were talking about the cost of 550 an hour and my suggestion would would increase that cost but and maybe um our attorney Hoy could have some insight but it seems to me that there ought to be some insurance policies that could cover risk that would be included in the fee that they risk that they when they rent and that could help with the insurance regarding violence or just help with insurance regarding damage or lost items. Just a thought. It's that's available. And
070you were calling on on on whom? Mr. Preston? U just our Dan Hoy who works at CPS could help us with that maybe. I I don't know. But not tonight. Oh, okay. All right. Not tonight. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Council member Alvie. Yeah. Thank you. Um the the gambling and the violence is absolutely an issue. Um I will add though in response to member uh Cassid's uh comment you know what we are hearing is the these leagues are already expensive for the families um what between the cost of being able to pay for facilities equipment. So, you know, I I guess I would ask our our friends at CPS World, you know, as you think about costs and pricing to make sure we're still uh having these leagues be accessible and affordable um because
071we do believe in the power of sports for kids and um the good things that come with that. So, I'd hate to price out these families um with these costs because uh we I mean, Superintendent Murphy was also at that meeting as well and we heard loud and clear that you know the people who are running these leagues are really trying to do their best but being able to afford all the costs is really hurting. Thank you. Yeah, so that yeah, good point and that that speaks to the need for sponsorship and and raising some private dollars. Um I understand one of the helmets costs about $225. That's a lot. So, um, yeah. So, we we definitely have to work on funding for this so that there's enough funding so that our kids are safe.
072Um, yeah. I'm sorry, Dr. M. So, so have I know my youngest is 25, but having been a mom who did little league for a long time. I don't want it to be missed on what Council Member Johnson said. If you have $3,000 bets, the cost of a helmet is not the issue. It is about accountability for adults that are attending these games. That's that's the biggest issue. I also want to point out CPS costs are relatively low. I to have a site manager at approximately $25 an hour for staff is 125 an hour. That's not an exorbitant amount of money on our side, but we do have expenses. And so I'm going to just, you know, say this because I always tell the superintendent, we have a ask. We need assistance with this. It
073is not just about cutting on our end. It is about community support, but we need the city to step up and come and cover costs because really really the the biggest cost of that over 50% is the $267 an hour and that has been an increase of 75%. I heard you athletic director Harden 75% increase that is not on our end and accountability to parents. I paid for little league and I had three in little league at one time. So I know the cost it's probably gone up in 20 20 some years but the we weren't betting on games that not that I knew of. And so it's about being accountable um and and the and having some mechanism for financial support as well. Our buildings are accessible. We want our buildings to be accessible.
074We can't have it be unsafe for the community in order to support one or two. So just want to make sure that that's really clear. I did not miss what council member Johnson said. It is about accountability. Yeah. And I just want to add that uh to to your point, we don't run and oversee the leagues. Uh they're coming, they're part of these leagues that are outside of us and we support with the facilities and these are just those rates in the facilities. And then to uh Vice Mayor Kierney's initial point, we've worked closely with basketball, football, all of the youth organizations across the city on supporting with resources that we have. uh whereas we don't have uh funding for outside of CPS to go and buy their helmets and those kind of things with
075the groups that uh we work with uh any of the nonprofits or youth football organizations or other youth organizations that come in. We work with them to offer administrative support and then any resources that we may have access to to help them in in their programming. Okay. Thank you so much. Um yeah, so we're all on the same page. Um, we all support youth leagues. We want our youth to to play, to be involved, to be safe. Um, the adults have to step up and all of us have to work together to find funding. So, okay. All right. Thank you. Got it. That's the plan. Thank you so much. So, a legislative update. We're going to just skip that. I understand that um you actually you're having a presentation coming up soon about Ohio budget
076and how that's going to affect CPS. So we'll we'll wait and we'll all listen in and and talk about that up the road. Um the next thing on the agenda is hide park development conversation. I'll turn that over to Dr. Kareem Mafet. So, we just put this on the agenda because we've gotten a large amount of feedback from our not only our High Park families and the community, but just the just the community and wanting to know from the wanting to know does the city have any updates to update us on because um we don't we don't really know. So if there is anything that could be added or just compleiment, we we don't really have the ability I'll say I'll say it. We don't have the ability financially to add anything to our budget
077if there is a proposal that suggests that we do so. So So Dr. Moffett, um Mr. Gerald Forson is here from from our department of community and economic development. I think to answer questions if there are specific questions about that. I know the community spoke. Any updates? Council member Albby. I would actually Mr. Burkard hate to put you on the spot, but I do know our Department of Transportation has talked with you and met with you even ahead of and separately from this development in terms of safety at Tide Park School. So, if you could maybe share a little insight on your conversations with DOT, I think he's probably the most appropriate person to give us an update at the moment. Happy to share. Um, so where this work started was the traffic impact study,
078the 140 page document that that we received. We click quickly reached out to DOT to to actually tell us what this says in layman's terms. Obviously, there's a lot of jargon in here and we wanted to say our our ask was how does this affect Hide Park School and what can we do? Rob, if you could pull up the slide, I can I can share with you um some of the conversations that happened. So, if you go to the last link, the pickup and drop off proposal map. Um as we look at the the map, there's two maps that are going to show up on the on the screen. The first one is basically currently how um Hyde Park School is set up. You can see the the cars that are outlined in black as
079they um filter down Edwards Road and how they funnel through the school in a single file line. Uh every day we know this is the reality that those cars back up and basically stop traffic uh from uh trying to get into the school and creates a little bit of gridlock. Although although that gridlock is only about 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the afternoon, it still provides um a little bit of congestion. If we scroll down to the next page, Rob, you'll see the proposal. And as you look at the school parking lot, you'll see all those cars double cued around the entire parking lot, which then are the exact same number of cars, but you see now that we don't have any on the street. So, this is the one area
080that we are looking at. It's going to be really really tight to be honest with you. As you look at some of the cars where they're parked and as you can see the cars that are double cued, there isn't a lot of room for error there. So, we do know that we need to um look at that a little bit more closely, but that is hopefully from from our lens and DO's lens a possible solution to at least help and not exacerbate the problem of having more traffic in that area. We I actually was able to talk to PLT communities today. Um and uh they are uh assured me that this is concept only and they are willing to work with the school district if we need help and assistance from anything from crossing guards
081to helping pave and stripe the lot. They're willing to help us however uh we ask. So, at this point, uh I know the CPS board has a a uh this document from the from the hide park development community. They also have the uh letter from DOT in regards to the traffic study that they have uh looked at as well as this map. So, hopefully that will at least at this moment in time give you a comprehensive look at what we're dealing with. I'm going to call on board members. Thank you, Mr. Bart. Bob, can you make that just a little bit? Can you zoom in? I'm sorry. I'm I'm a little old. My My eyes are aged. I need to see a little bit because I see some overlap like the black overlapping some stuff.
082So, I'm I just wanted to be able to Can you zoom in just a little bit more? Thank you. Now I can see a little bit better. Can you center that a little bit? I don't know if that's possible, but I think I can see a little bit better. Board member Lindy. Thanks um very much. Uh my only comment is just a thank you um to Mr. Burkhart and to uh the superintendent. Um the previous meeting we had had um you this issue has come up a couple different times with either different board members bringing it up or or speakers coming in uh for hearing of the public. And you know, I had asked the superintendent to, you know, can you help us or at least me as a board member learn more about what
083the school community thinks about all this? Uh, and we received, I think, a very helpful set of concerns from the principal. Um, I was in touch with a member of the development team, shared those concerns. Person said, well, we're very happy to do X and X do Y and do Z and I I don't don't really don't like being in the middle of of things like that. So my request at the last meeting was just to try to get the right people in both groups to talk to each other. And and I don't know if there's a solution or there isn't a solution. I feel very confident there won't be a solution if the right people don't talk to each other. Um and this was exactly what I had hoped would happen. Um and so
084we have I think the right person on our side talking to the right person on their side. I'm eager to see what you all come up with. Um, and if if there really are increased concerns for student safety, staff safety at one of our schools, I think it's a big deal. Um, and I got the impression that that the people who are working on this want to do everything they possibly can to make sure that kids are safe and that staff are safe. And so, if you all can figure that out, great. So, thank you. Welcome, board member Weinberg. Yeah. So, I will just piggyback off of board member uh Lindy. um huge concern what we heard today with hearing of the public just safety and especially with the school sitting there. Um I know
085that I used to work at Hide Park School. So I can understand this picture that is presented and it is very tight. It's very tight. It's unsafe. And my thing that I would like to know is what collaboration has occurred. But I know that we have a representation from CPS, but I'd like to know has the community been involved, the principal, obviously CPS, city, everyone in the community to kind of just sit down and figure out a plan and ensuring that we are taking into consideration all of these concerns. And so that would be a big um I think a thing for me to really really consider how are we all sitting down at the table and not just having you there at the table. Oh, and adding the developer as well. Sorry about that.
086Um, Mr. Burkhard, may I ask a question, please? So, I'm looking at the design. So, it so they're there two rows of cars, but the children the children aren't going between the rows. They're waiting until the cars go in single file. Okay. Correct. And and at the top of that, you can see that we're encroaching on on the the foliage. So, we're going to have to look at some some ways we might need to pave that area. We might need to shift the parking around. Uh the parking is a little bit uh um towards the the top half of your screen, so maybe moving the parking down. So, we have a lot of work to do. Sadly, when we u met with DOT at the time, um the inclement weather wasn't being our friend, so
087we weren't able to meet on site. So, now that the weather is better, we can get out uh and and you know, stack some cars and see what it looks like, give it a try and and see what we're going to need to do. Um we do have met with the the principal on uh multiple occasions. She met with DOT with us. Again, it's it's the start of the process. It is not the end of the process. We do want to get everyone to the table and have these conversations. Yeah, this I'm I'm concerned about pedestrian safety as well with these kids. Um, I know I was I was at High Park School for a Black History Month, so back in in February and just talking about, you know, what what we do on council
088and all of that. And I said, "What what are you all concerned about? What are your concerns? What do you want to see?" And they started talking about pedestrian safety. These were kindergarteners. And I was like, "Oh my goodness." Um, so that was it was a little concerning. And I know at at in council people or in city hall people have talked about um seeing near misses when they're apparently a lot of parents from at High Park School walk their children to school. Um it it's really concerning and I I heard the stories today that were pretty horrifying. So, you know, I'm really concerned about that. Um but but thank you for um for looking into it. So I will just add what? Go ahead. No, I I just I finally dug through my email.
089So, last week, uh, Council Member Walsh and I did listening session in Hide Park and following up, we heard some of these concerns. So, I sent an email back to the community council. If you all will allow me to read what I wrote them back about this issue, just so we're all on the same page. Okay. Um, I might have shared some of this with you all previously. Okay. Um, I'm just quoting the email here. Several residents raised concerns around the developer traffic impact study which recommended removing on street parking on Edwards Road to potentially improve traffic flow. We followed up with our department transportation engineering who who provided us with the following response response which confirms that the removal of on street parking on Edwards Road is not being recommended. and then quote DOT
090TIS traffic uh impact study review shows proposed development will have minimal impact to existing traffic including along Edwards Road. DOT recommends no changes to paved markings and on street parking along Edwards Road. Pedestrian safety features can be identified and implemented with with the development as streetscape design moves forward. separately. Quote, "DOT has observed Hide Park pickup operations and met with Chris Birkhart um and Jill Sunderman, who's the principal uh to share a proposed solution. The proposed solution is all within the CPS property. Therefore, it is on CPS to implement. DOT also sees any current issues with the Hide Park School operation as a separate issue from the proposed development traffic. DOT has agreed to restrict five to six parking spaces along the school property on Edwards Road from 12 to three to help alleviate traffic
091concerns, improve safety. So, I'm happy to forward that information to you all. Just thought I'd read it off now since it's applied to the conversation. Okay. All right. Thank you. I will say I think you sent me that email and I sent it to all the board members so they already have that. I I just want to add one thing. Um, as a regular community member who attends my Aenddale Community Council meeting and has fought with developers, it's really difficult after something has already been approved to advocate for changes. I have noticed that. So, I'm going to just I'm just going to ask I'm just going to put that there. I don't know when a vote is. I don't I don't I've been told multiple things, but I know that I think it's it it
092implores people to negotiate before votes happen before then rather than afterwards because then there's absolutely no leverage to make them make any changes. So, I'm just going to tell you that because I I did that with a developer in my own neighborhood on my own street and the city offered variances and as long as they got the variance, they were doing what they wanted before that. But then afterwards, they didn't want to come to the table anymore. So, I'm going to just I'm going to really implore to that on you. But then also, are there other options than this? Because this is one option. Okay, this is A, but where's B, C, D, you know, QRF? because that seems very very tight. Um, having been at the school, it looks good on paper and that's
093why I wanted to zoom in. And it looks like the cars are all the same size, but you know, an an SUV is much different than a little bitty car. So, I'm I I'm just I just want to recognize that it it looks good, but I I want some I'd like other options. And the other thing I really want and I I hear that you all have asked the principal, but I I also want to point out that the vice mayor asked kids. That particular school has had near misses. And when we always want to dismiss kids and say, "Well, they they're talking about pedestrian safety." Some of these kids have literally had near misses when Mrs. Weinberg was teaching there. So, they're not just talking about they're not just hearing their parents say this
094and repeating what they hear. they have when the school had to go across the street like some of these kids were still there and remember their bigger siblings being near nearly hit by cars. So I just think some communities have different cultures and have different personalities, but perhaps there needs to be more engagement sessions with the families of the schools um that in the in real time prior to votes. I'm just going to leave that right there. you guys. Okay. And I'm curious, when is the vote going to be? When is there going to be a vote? So, this upcoming Tuesday. So, let me understand what I'm hear. So, we have a vote on the 22nd. What will the vote be? The vote is for a zoning change. So, changing uh the the current ask
095is to change it to a planned development zone change. So that's not so Yeah. And this Okay. Yeah. So it's currently um it's a urban design overlay district. Um these were created in 2004. There about 15 neighborhoods that have them for their business districts. And the idea of a UDL is to protect the character of the business district. And so those were established. Um the vote is to change it to a plan development which um releases a lot of those uh requirements. And so on Tuesday for equitable develop that is Tuesday a uh April 22nd. Okay. So yeah, April 22nd is when it goes before equitable housing and growth for discussion. Um, there might be a vote, there might not, but the the vote that really counts is the one on Wednesday in city council,
096April 23rd, if it's still on schedule. We've had a few different as as um Dr. Moffett said a few different date changes, but I understand those dates are the current ones. Thank you. Any other board member questions? Superintendent Murphy question. Thank you. Um just for clarity, so the charge to administration was to uh talk with the principal and get feedback from the principal and then also talk with the developer. I'm just wondering is the expectation that we're continuing conversations. Thank you. I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. I heard she said is the expectation that they're continuing those conversations and then I didn't say anything. So did you take away a yes or no? I gave her a nod of I think she's done what the board has asked her to do. If there's an
097additional assignment to her that was a formalized assignment then we can formalize that. But we didn't ask her to do anything else other than what she has already done, which is I think it was you that said, "Hey, can you ask the principal what the principal thinks and then come back with information around the conversation between DOT and the principal?" That's all we've asked her to do. We've not asked her for anything else. That that that's correct. Uh I I think what I would uh I'm one board member. U people may disagree with me. My my my perspective is that if there's a way that the right people sitting at the table together can design something that will work for the neighborhood, for the children, for the staff, that is a good thing. And I
098would like to see CBS do that. If we can't, then we should be clear about that. But either way, from my perspective, ongoing talks are very helpful and very healthy. Um, and so I wanted, again, I'm one person, but my hope is that if there's good work that we could do sitting at the table together, we'd continue to do that. I completely agree with you. But the question is anything, and I'm not saying that I don't think that her expectation was around discontinuing those conversations. I think her expectation was around is there anything additional that she should be doing. For instance, I just said ask the students. That would be an additional request. and I'm not formalizing that as an assignment, but I would fully anticipate that you would continue discussions and engage. That's great.
099That's great. I what I was trying to I interrupted you. I'm sorry. Say again. Did I interrupt? No, you're fine. Um what I was worried about was a situation that someone would take away the message that there should therefore be no more meetings. And I wanted to make sure that that was not the message we were sending. That wasn't what I thought she meant. I thought she was asking was there anything additional that she needed to do. My expectation and I think the board as well would be that you continue discussions don't stop that at all and I just said can you come back with another but it's still within the realm of what was asked to do initially. Would you like her to do something different for me? This feels very aligned to what
100I was hoping. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Um then that concludes that uh that discussion. Uh the next item is any other business. I would like to mention that I think these meetings are are very fruitful. I love the fact that city council and and CPS board members get together. Um we have some information to bring back to you. We're going to hear more about youth leagues especially. Um so there's there's more to do. Um I would like to propose because it's easier when everybody's here then our next meeting because you know we're trying to meet quarterly. Our next meeting would be Wednesday, August 6 at 5:30 PM. City council goes on recess after we pass the budget, which has to be by June 30th. So in in July, we're all still working. Being on recess
101doesn't mean we're not working. We're all still working really hard, but we're not having meetings. And so we do go back to having meetings for one week in August, and that's the first week of August. So I thought, well, why don't we have our uh healthy neighborhood CPS meeting Wednesday evening? What day was that? Um, August 6th. Okay. It's a Wednesday. I just wanted to make sure we didn't have a a committee the whole, but we're good that day. Wednesday, August the 6th. Alex will be so happy. Alex Stanton in my office because you said this will really save us a lot of time uh to to really work this out. So, thank you for that. Okay. So, our next meeting for this committee, this joint committee will be Wednesday, August 6 at 5:30. And
102since we're alternating, we'll be back in city hall. So, we invite everyone to come and we'll get the agenda together, including follow-up items. Any announcements, board members, city council [Music] members? Okay. All right, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us. Uh, thank you for for hosting our joint committee here.