urban renewal agency the first item on the agenda the acceptance of the minutes from our february seventeenth two thousand and fifteen meeting move by mr reg cycle mr ferrari all in favor of the minutes as presented signify by saying i am and he opposed minute stand adapted next item to the adoption a resolution two zero one five day shiro to be acceptance of some foreclosed property from the city of schenectady entertain a motion move by mr motive aaron second by mr regie all in favor signify by saying i and he opposed resolution is adopted and the zoning of select parcels on state street and brandywine avenue from c to mix use commercial district to the planned mixed use development district is a set that will be a public hearing so we will now move on to items for original twenty ingersoll avenue from the schenectady urban renewal agency also discussed in committee without objection on consent item number three and number three a resolution authorizing the sale of eleven eleven eighteen and twenty eight don't number five a resolution authorizing the city of schenectady to settle a tax or sherry for forty to seventy queen philharmonie boulevard discussed in claims committee without objection on consent item number six  claims without objection and consent i don't number ten i'm number ten a resolution record recognizing the month of february as african american history month this will be taken out of order ms porterfield will present that item number eleven i don't number eleven resolution recognizing the schenectady city school district twenty fifteen spelling bee champions this will also be taken out of order mr cocksure will present that item number twelve and number twelve a resolution recognizing participants of bridges to youth also out of order miss porterfield will present that i number thirteen i don't number thirteen a resolution recognizing the union college men's hockey team as the winners of the twenty fifth cup also taken out of order present that and then we have three items for unanimous consent item number thirteen and the number thirteen a a name that i must consent to resolution recognizing national server glove boxing tournament champions  be a resolution transferring title to various properties to the schenectady urban renewal agency on attain a motion to move that on the agenda of this process seconded by mr reagan all in favor i and then a motion to move it to the consent agenda welcoming your presence into this room to grant us your peace your wisdom and your counsel we ask that all decisions made tonight would be for the good of our community and for our city we pray for all of our officials elected and appointed that you will bless them touch them and minister to them and through them for the good of the people of schenectady all of this we ask in the wonderful name of the lord jesus christ they met brick to lead us in the pledge of allegiance king present all right we have five border resolutions we will start with the one for african american history month miss porterfield ok you have a four thank you before i present the resolution i just you know as we all know there where is african american history month where we celebrate the contributions of african americans throughout the country and usually when we talk about it we talk about what's many years ago maybe and and not so present and so it's important to recognize and to realize that yes we have all those things to celebrate but there are young people that continue to do things to change lives in to make contributions of african american so tonight members of team go or here they will be accepting resolution so a resolution recognizing the month of february as african american history month whereas the contributions of african americans are the s out of the social and cultural history of the united states and where as each year the nation takes the month of february to evaluate and commemorating in no more wards accomplishments and achievements attained by african americans in american hired by the police department and where as historically african american communities joined together to address the needs within their community and the city of schenectady can look to its residents past and present who contribute to african american history and where as a local coalition of african american business owners artists parents and everyday citizens committed to improving the lives of our youth create a team go together everyone achieves more goals overall one of their initiative is the bully proof project where many of the community met every day in front of mt pleasant middle school to walk kids home over two month period ensuring their safety and where esteem go is a grassroots group of african americans dedicated to addressing problems in the city council could hear my thoughts in their deliberations so recognize the month of february as african american history month in the city of schenectady in order to promote the ongoing study of our nation's history and to recognize the contribution philosophies is that we view ourselves as leaders in the community and leaders don't change people we create the conditions of what change occurs so we understand and recognize our obligation to help when it's needed in our community we have that ownership model and definitely it takes a village and i really just want to say that we greatly appreciate you guys reckon recognizing us today what that does is that innovate the culture the very unique culture that is connected to right now people are changing people are trying to advocate for under served communities marginalized people so and that's what we're about and a community this is a mission that we're almost take very seriously so i just want to tell you thank you so much and thank everyone here supporting us today greatly appreciate that and can we have all your team members stand up yes so right now thank you again again anyone could be a member of team go out and not team wait for a reason we're about just getting out there and get it done in your support is a greatly appreciated thank you very good thank you very good madam chair president if i may bring the problem resolution thank you as a resolution recognizing the schenectady city school district two thousand and fifteen spelling bee champions and whereas the schenectady city school district means committed to promoting excellence in it whereas each year it hosts a district wide spelling bee to determine the best spellers to represent the city in regional cons us and whereas this year spelling bee took place at mount pleasant middle school on january twenty sixth of two thousand and fifteen and were as we had three years as well we had joshua maybe there was a seventh grader from central park middle school won first place the result but the mayor kerry out of mccarthy and the city council do hereby pause in our deliberations to recognize the achievements of these talented students and to wish him good luck under the bright lights of proctor stage in the regional spelling bee which is scheduled for tomorrow in this it was talking about bridges out of poverty and this time was really directed towards youth so as part of the conference they had workshops and had young people come to talk about what they would like to see what they see that the problems are and what they see as some of the solutions so the young people that we see here tonight participated in that and i had the opportunity to meet them a little bit earlier today and just to talk with them and i have to tell you that we have some outstanding young people here who are going to be wonderful leaders in our community in the future and they had really great questions to ask and also what i thought was extremely important about ways that they could become involved and become decision makers so we're so pleased to meet them and to interact with them and  think you may have some young people that may want to participate in the council the council so they're really interested so with that i'd like to read the resolution a resolution recognizing participants of bridges to use whereas bridges to use conference a call to action for schenectady youth and for the community to work more collaboratively and strategically to the advantage of two of our young people of our young community members was held in the summer third two thousand and fourteen and where as the purpose of the conference was to view our community through the lens of young people teens and adults to help us to better understand how they see their lives and perspective futures and whereas the goal of the conference was for adult participates participants t form and how teams view and how teams view teen pregnancy and where as they sacrifice their time to attend focus groups and the conference showed the courage to speak before such a large audience and trusted adults by sharing such painful and private pieces of their lives and where as it is important for a city that we engage the use of our community and met can maximize upon their participation ideas and visions for the future now and therefore be resolved that the mayor gary or mccarthy and the city i congratulate file and we just wanted to take the time out to thank you guys for being here and listening to what we have to say time is very valuable and no i go to you bill schenectady you guys have my thanks i'm giving it's healing and i wanted to tell you guys i appreciate everything you guys are doing and i do atten and it was an honor to hear all of these guys story and participate with them in the conference and second of all i'm proud to be an active citizen and participant in my community so thank you so we may have resolutions but the participants in again i want to thank you for that and i look forward to seeing you participating in the connected government some way in the very near future so thank you very much again ok coach catalan dr dilute would you like to come inside the rail as well established the peaceful warrior club to help disadvantage you will develop positive life skills such as self discipline responsibility commitment and self control and anger management whereas the competition for amateur boxing in the united states open to all nonprofessional google is between the age of ten and fifteen and where as joy you prong with a boxing record of fourteen to one now therefore be a prince all for the mayor garry are mccarty the city council do hereby posing to their liberation to recognize the achievements of the heap wrong and as you may feel as the national champion so encourage them in their continue study and to wish them luck as they train for the national goal clubs and junior olympic tournament congratulations cultivate them we're going to see some some vast changes take place in the city and in the place that we live the place that we love and so it's to support up to you that's going to make the change been kind of a common theme here tonight preparing these young men and women for service in the community and i think the nice thing about this recognition and we appreciate so much  providing this exposure but you know it's very apparent that it's not just about boxing you know this is about developing the youth academically athletically of course spiritually as john a put so nicely and this is what it's all about and you know going forward to have the opportunity to have a little recognition like this in this forum makes other people aware of just what this club is all about and what we all do so for that we thank you very much and who knows in this community we may have a future mayor council person but among us right here after the boxing career is over so thank you so much key team go from many different walks of life and this gentleman i just i'm asking to come up here me for one quick second and we recognize mr denzil morris one of the founders a team go actually help us with a lot of these action steps and and putting himsel f on the line for the community are we just greatly appreciate you so i just wonder make sure you're come on over here because this is us i just want to say thank you to everyone s acknowledging was going on a community we've come a long way so a lot of work to be done in the community and it's only together that we will achieve more goals overall that's the model a team go i'm looking forward to two thousand and fifteen doing a lot more things in the community and working with more people such as the people gathered in this room who see that there's a need for it in our community so distinct you for the acknowledgment and keep up the good work as well thank you parcels on state street and brandywine avenue from c to make shoes commercial district to p m d plan development district right i have two people signed up to speak on this the first to sandy brick ok mr frank i think we can continue here thank you madam president and thank you for the personal honor of allowing me to lead this body in the political reaches it was very exciting for me and thank you for that opportunity also it was great for me to be here i think we've seen a large slice of the future of the city here deceiving and it's quite a privilege to hear that all the accomplishments of the young men and women that were here before me i'm not half as exciting i'm here on behalf of atlantic development who is the applicant for  zone change at the corner of state brandywine avenue atlantic development is a new england development company and they have never done a project before in new york state when they were looking for a project in new york state that the project they chose to be their first project in new york state is here in schenectady and i think that's testament to the great things that are going on here in the city also in addition it's going to her first application of this city's p m t district zoning which has placed in  years back but it's never been utilized so it's also exciting aspect as well as taking a vacant lot that in a very visible location everyone's familiar with and placing upon a tax rolls on hopefully would successful development i'm here to say on behalf of the atlantic development that we are greatly appreciative of the support and welcome that we received from mayor mccarthy as well as from radio on it betcha plex development authority we also appeared before the planning commission and received a unanimous recommendation to this board for the zone change and coincidentally while we were at the planning commission meeting there were a number of residents there on unrelated business that happen to live in a neighborhood where this project is proposed and some of them spoke directly to the planning commission and came up to us after the meeting and were very supportive of this project we intend should this zone change be approved to schedule community meetings and meet with the neighborhood in the community to understand what what available to answer any questions that you or staff may have as we go forward in this process and i thank you for the opportunity thank  good evening i'm chuck stater president of the chamber schenectady county on behalf of the chamber we are in support of the atlantic developments request for proposal owning amendments for numerous properties on state street and bring your avenue in the proposed change from c to mixed use commercial district to a planned mixed use development district under schenectady existing zoning classification for the site developer would be limited to just twelve thousand square feet of new construction our understanding that developers asked the city to approve a zoning changed that would make the three acre site a plan mixed use district allowing the city and the developer to work together to create a plan for the site that will incorporate multiple buildings a landscape urban green space that will serve as a walk among gateway feature for residents and visitors alike this site with approval could be the beginning of a revitalization of this area state street inhance in the a key corner of the state street corridor would serve as a catalyst that will boost the neighborhood and track people in additional development to the section of the state street chambers pleased to learn that a land of development group is committed to this project there are a hallmark is their ability to work effectively with minister balinese development and planning term on successful projects and let it develop a group as a solid track record with more than four million square feet built in new england their experience and background in engineering and general contracting gives them an acute awareness of architectural engineering environmental requirements for this type of multipurpose project they will be also labeled to provide a team that maintains the design concepts that can meet a require budget you know hence the quality of construction they're known for the projects that improve interrogation be tween the developments in the natural environment the track record shows projects are statically pleasing economically feasible and environmentally sustainable we're fortunate that they've approached each project with a cooperate of mindset and are looking forward to working with the city on this additional investment in this quarter and surrounding neighborhood that would be a real win for the chamber supports the request of a development we thank you for the opportunity thank you i have no one else signed up to speak on the that president you have the floor thank you this is a resolution recognizing the union college men's hockey team as the winners of the two thousand and fifteen mayor's cup whereas the union college men's hockey team has a tradition of excellence which was highlighted most recently by winning that you know little thing the national championship in two thousand and fourteen and whereas a historic and exciting ravelry exists between union college dutchman and the rensselaer polytechnic institute engineers and whereas that rivalry has a following throughout the capital region which led it to the creation of the mayor's cup in two thousand and thirteen whereas the dutchman were able to return to cup the city of schenectady with a victory over r p i on january twenty fourth two thousand and fifteen whereas union dominated the score in its eighty three victory with a hat trick by senior daniels champion and city council do here by pas in their deliberations to recognize union college men's hockey team as the winners of the two thousand and fifteen mayor's cup and as a continuing source of pride in the city of schenectady and madam president i want to could be the shortest talk here in this building right now but i just just being the coach here at head union college i'm very blessed to work with these guys here and mayor you've done a phenomenal job in the city and we really do appreciate it and i'll tell you once great to bring this back home to you and elected officials please enjoy and thank you very much for a thing you've done for us thank you and congratulations you know we had the case built for it we had to put a sign up there last year where it was a temporary loan to the city of troy and i would hope guys we never have to put that sign back up again but thank you coach bennett in the great performance that the team has done  council for monday february twenty third two thousand and fifteen under official from the mayor list of appointments dated february twenty third two thousand and fifteen under general a letter from the american legion twenty seven the vision post one zero zero two to the city of schenectady extending their gratitude for the rental money to support their post a letter from the american legion twenty seven the vision post one zero zero five to the city of schenectady extending their gratitude for the ransom money to support their post a letter from the american gold star mothers chapter seven to the city of schenectady extending their gratitude for the generous donation letter from the schenectady veterans of world war two korea and vietnam to the city of schenectady extending their gratitude for the rental money to support their post under petitions  you like to report that the health and recreation committee met on the third last thursday february nineteenth and we met with there were actually eighteen people that were present fifteen from the community and three parks throughout in the twenty four parks throughout the city and the neighborhoods that were present gave information on what they've done so far what they're planning to do in the parks in the future and also their present was the president of the the chair of the newly formed recreation advisory commission rich but cherami and so we had a discussion about things have gone on so far and that's what's what the neighborhoods plan would like to see happen in their parks the end result was that the different neighborhoods will be submitting information on what they've done and what they'd like to see happen so we can to prioritize that so we can talk about how to get things done in the parks before before the summer the next step is that the recreation advisory commission will be making with its members it's a very new commission just i think everybody got a point the last people were last week we having their initial meeting to talk about that and their job is to actually do the inventory of the various parks to see what's needed and they will be doing that and then all the different neighborhoods will be in touch with that commission to submit the information one of what they'd like to see in their parts so those are that's what happened at the meeting and those are the next steps so we will continue to report out as we move forward and i just want to reiterate that this is open to neighborhoods parks are you know we're interested in hearing from our neighborhoods what they'd like to see in the parks you know specific neighborhoods so people should  even if they're not a part of their neighborhoods their neighborhood association but like to see things happen in the park they should reach out to the neighborhood association get the information so that we can get that and get things moving thank you very much thank you anyone else right move on to privilege of the floor related to the legislative agenda i have no one signed up to speak so i'm going to declare that closed and i will entertain a motion then to approve the legislative agenda mr ag seconded by mr miller there and all in favor  house the next day we got one big problem streets could be a little bit better you got a lot of potholes every good evening council good evening mr mayor my name is john howard the third i'm a lifelong resident here at city disconnected back in may of two thousand and fourteen i gained employment with the city as a seasonal labor lawyer upon my appointment i was placed in the snap department snap is going to disconnect the neighborhood assistance assistance program we basically do is we renovate or maintain a lot of dilapidated properties here in the city's connect me while i was employed i was informed that in order to maintain my employment and have the possibility of becoming a full time employment i'd have to earn my c d o commercial driver's license i paid for the permit i took the test passed the test schedule wrote test my national road test i didn't pass a reschedule and passed my second test i got my c d o and up to my benefit i was told in early december as a result of me getting c d o that i will remain on what opportunity become permanent with the city's connected well that happened i transferred from the snap department over to a trash apartment the waste department so i was driving a truck and i was removing waste after the season was over around christmas eve a lot of seasonal guys got let go their first week back we had off a lot of trash and  whole new calendar year so bunch of guys got a bunch of sick time and as a result i came to work on a monday we had a cold front come in it was freezing cold i was sweating and i took my hat off which was an error and i ended up becoming ill that tuesday i came to work again i told my shop steward that i wasn't feeling well but quite a few guys had called in that day and because guys called in that day we only had about eight trucks that were actually out we normally have around twelve or thirteen trucks so throughout the day we all rushed to try to get the work done our union president said we've got to get the work done i state from six a m to three fifteen my supervisor came pick me up gave me a ride back there trash still had some out that wednesday i called in to work even though i didn't have sick time because i was a seasonal employee i reported to work thursday morning to my dismay i was received i was given my termination papers at that point i left directly down from forster having came here to the mayor's office and hopes to speak to the mayor to speak to anybody i was told because i wasn't a full time employee i don't have any union representation i don't have any issues with regard to my work performance i came to work every day i got sick i missed one day of work and i got fired i came down here repeatedly would attempt to try to speak to the mayor i spoke to angelica morris from human rights i spoke and i think it's important that we have inclusion i understand we have policies to put in place there's got to be some gray areas something's got to be done to try to give people a fair opportunity thank you thank you  minority in this paper all is minority in the front page up this paper the person that did work for the city her picture was not in here she didn't appear at the time but her picture everybody if you're going to put your recipe put everybody in the papers in the front page and that's wrong and next thing is the people that bridge they were checking the structural damage on it i mean the structural damage should have been checked when that bridge first went down in my opinion and the structural damage is an appearance from a bridge work i did in the service last february you had to build you preservation meeting city engineers said design was to be complete last year and construction was to start this year that's what you  now we're doing structural damage there's no design i haven't heard anything on that also he says that because the people because the people who have  has traveled back but that is a disaster over there so what i'm assuming you're just people are telling us things at meetings and stuff i think they're trying to pacify us i don't know if i'm right or wrong but they're telling us one thing w expect something and it's not happening i'd like to know what's going on  not only the safety of it that the fire trucks have a hard time coming around and stuff to figure it out how much gas i have to use to go around in twenty three months but he was an awful lot of gas and it's just like being an extra and credit cards i don't know i never use them but they say to write meters altered to accept dollar bills so if they have to get more this would be something to consider on them and  tag sales tax why don't they charge put that one point set up to make it an even dollar or whatever it is and use that money for roads it's just something to throw out i just see if that can be done yes thank you a couple of announcements didn't transfer over here there is an osha ten hour training construction safety certification course that's going to be held on march fourth and fifth it's at the steinmetz home homes community room fee is it is there is a fee involved it's a two hundred dollars fee hundred ninety nine dollars actually and registration is required but it is a certification course so if you're interested you can pan tack to make tap which i'll give you after this there their phone number after this next announcement also on friday march sixth metabo be holding a free renovation repair painting initial training course and you can contact them for more information that also it's three seven two four four zero nine three seven two four four zero nine as as we were doing these great things it was just it felt like a great night and also it's wonderful to be reminded of all that our youth all that our youth are accomplishing on a regular basis because i think sometimes the next generation isn't understood by the previous generations so it's always good to remember that there's a lot of young people doing a lot of great things and trying really and the opposite side of feeling positive and wonderful i do want to express my sincere sincere condolences to the family of carlos figure who was shot and killed on hamilton hill twenty six year old man  who had two children and also david rodriguez who took his own life recently seventeen years old both very tragic and sad circumstances and it's my heart goes out the to the families and i just wanted to offer my sympathy thank you mr ferrari and what we've come up with is a banner program it's called the downtown schenectady hometown heroes banner program and it's a banner that will be displayed from made may until mid november from fred trends park to south the church street it's a banner that included a beautiful photo of themselves their name and their branch of the military that they serve or search or have served in and in order to qualify for this banner program there are a couple prerequisites they first will have to be either born in schenectady graduated from that's going to the city school district or a current resident and at a at a financial support of three hundred dollars they will have this beautiful banner hanging throughout the city and they also received a eight by ten photo for their families to display at home and at the end of this period of honoring our service members throughout the city they will receive the actual banner those that are interested are asked to call colleen at that yes i see at three seven seven nine four three zero to get more information thanks thank you there and just a quick announcement on the star exemption or jewel on march of forests and i encourage everyone who has not filed man chair somebody issues that come to my attention our fire hydrants this winter i'm not sure what happened to the markers on some of them they've disappeared i know sometimes kids put them down but i think it's very important that they be replaced because my neighbor and myself we couldn't find the one by fairview park we finally found it but it was buried you couldn't find it so i don't know how a fire department could find it either i think it's important that in the good weather if it ever comes to share maybe that rebar can get replaced on those hydrants because it's very important even if we want people to shovel them out for that to happen and i'm not i understand  that i think our fire department asked sheriff baca stina for help put in mates to shovel off the hydrants and it became a unit work problem with the unions but i would like to see if our unions could get together for the betterment of schenectady and for the safety of our residents that maybe they quit acquiesce a little bit maybe a little give and take because the important thing is that the hydrants get shoveled out that's certainly important and of course i understand unions have their rights but maybe something can be worked out because if they don't get shoveled out somebody could be at risk for sure and it could be anybody's family member or  the schenectady and it's very important but i think again the real important thing is the the markers on these hydrants a lot of them have just disappeared i've been looking and a lot of mark gone so i think that's an important thing for us to do on the snow issues are saturdays that was pretty well recognized as we were going to get some snow saturday so my wife and i were going to mount carmel for visual mass and i came down broadway and i was in a very good shape this was at three thirty quarter to four congress st hill must have just got salted because there was a young lady whose car was right off the ground on one of the guardrail she must of came down congress street and lost control thank god she didn't slide into the intersection because it could have been a lot worse but i saw her car was right off the ground the wheels weren't touching the ground there was a police officer there and she was in the car but again with bellevue not being protected by our own fire station that we had years ago i think it's important that a media lee we have attention to broadway hill in congress street hell because if station ron is answering a call or somewheres we have to rely on station three i realize we can call for mutual aid maybe from rotterdam but again i think it's important that that should have been solved at the why it wasn't solved it i don't know but it wasn't a very good shape i was there myself i saw it wasn't a very good shape most of our side streets open up or cambalache he was narrowed down now where traffic cannot pass both ways and if there's no place to park land it becomes another problem if somebody doesn't want to back up we could have confrontation and most of the side streets are this way i know it's been a tough winter but i think one thing it's a mayor's prerogative for snow emergencies but i think we need uniform parking rules at least for the winter months because we have alternate side parking we have one side only parking we have parking on both sides and i think it makes it difficult for our plow operators to clear the snow properly so maybe something we can look at for next year hopefully is to have uniform parking rules for the city because it's like a mismatch of of parking rules all throughout the city and if we had a uniform maybe from november first i'm a first for april fifteenth or whatever we want to use for either alternate side parking or something like that so the plow operators can plo not a good thing is something that we have to certainly address and i think that something should be done for next year and i know that i want to thank everybody all the city workers that work outdoors in this horrid wenner that we had i don't even know what to say about it our trash collectors are rather police officers fire officers anybody that has work outside crossing guards it's been a horrific winter for those people and they really deserve all the best because it's tough out there i don't even want to be out there for a couple minutes hopefully spring will come soon and we want to worry about the snow or anything else but it's not going to happen any time soon it doesn't look like so just for the first thought i think some of the things that we have to look at for the future thank you thank you anyone else great to see so many people here tonight and for the council in the city to give them some small token fresh recognition for the work and the things that they're doing sunday i have just today we had our kicked off for fourth year of the homes program had the open houses in schenectady look forward to continuing that through the spring as we do our next round of foreclosures and working with the council as we bring the houses in clean them up  to put them back on the tax rolls and create homeownership opportunities for individuals within the city of schenectady and coming up is the tenth restaurant week here in schenectady so that  people haven't been out recently or they've been snowbound to take advantage of that to go out to the many venues that will be open where they can get a great deal have a great deal a great meal and enjoy some of the fine things that are happening here in the