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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/06/2010 04A Draft Minutes 06-10-2010 Listening Session - Harman Center0 E, r YAKIMA CITY COUNCIL LISTENING SESSION JUNE 10, 2010 HARMAN CENTER 6:00 P.M. — LISTENING SESSION . 1. Roll Call Present: Council: Mayor Micah Cawley, presiding, Assistant Mayor Kathy Coffey, Council Members Bill Lover and Dave Ettl Staff: City Manager Zais and City Clerk Kloster Absent: Council Members Adkison, Edler and Ensey 2. Listening Session -- Audience Participation The following citizens addressed the, Council. (Comments are summarized) Ted Hochstater — Asked Council to adopt a resolution supporting Arizona's efforts to control their southern border. All city departments need to do business with Arizona companies and do whatever possible to encourage the citizens in Arizona. Need to recognize Arizona has moved correctly to protect the . onslaught of illegal immigration and the Council needs to join the movement to support their effort. John Braun — Why didn't the Council didn't adopt the E- verify policy? Other countries require. people to have papers. It's a simple thing and would put a lot of people's minds at rest. Doesn't feel it's an obstacle for employers to use E- verify. Robbie Byrne — E- verify is about legal vs. illegal. Urged the Council to reconsider it and adopt it. Yakima is.getting the reputation as a sanctuary city. There is a very offensive billboard on Lincoln Avenue between 5th and 6th Avenues regarding. colonoscopies. Asked Council to look into that. Sara Martin - She has seen decay in the community with all the adult businesses and doesn't want her daughters to grow up in a community that has strip clubs and espresso stands that objectify women. Yakima is going to lose quality people and draw the wrong kind of people to the community. Other cities have passed laws to prevent this and wants to see it happen in this community. Nick Hughes — We're. pushing very hard for tourism in downtown and it's becoming more evident that public perception by out -of -town visitors is not good. They are concerned about walking downtown.. The Committee for Downtown Yakima has said they don't want to be involved in the gang issues because it doesn't affect downtown. He disagreed and said it impacts the downtown in a negative way. He is a member of The Gang Coalition and they are focusing on a gang -free zone in'downtown and trying to get the businesses behind this effort. The first time Council considered E- verify, a couple of JUNE 8, 2010 Hispanic community activists made some veiled threats that if that program was adopted, it was going to impact the gang problem here. The two issues don't have anything to do with each other. Asked Council to revisit the E- verify issue. Jerral Campfield — The Council has a tremendous responsibility and needs encouragement from the community to continue doing a good job. We're going downhill rather that uphill. If we don't start changing, we're going to lose our freedom. Vicki Hyndman — There are many churches in Yakima that have programs to help at- risk kids be productive and learn respect. Attendees of the police department Citizens Academy could help with graffiti, crowd control and other minor duties. We've made gangs the giants in this community. We need to impound vehicles that are used in felonies. Send gang members to Iran and let them fight over there. Gary Hyndman — Graduates of the Citizens Academy could help with parades, marches and cruising nights to give the officers additional "eyes" and help decrease police officer overtime. Regarding the gang problem, he advocated confiscating gang members' vehicles that are used in felonies. Put the department logo on them and use them as police cruisers for a couple of weeks: Then sell them and put the money back in the city coffers. Since the county utilized city property space for a number of years and since they're now positioned on prime commercial real estate that's unused, maybe they would be available to cooperate and start impounding vehicles that are used in traffic infractions, sell them after thirty days and give the revenue back to the city. Asked why the Yakima police is increasing the number of traffic stops on the, highway between the turnoffs from Nob Hill Blvd. to First Street. That area is already patrolled by the Highway Patrol and we don't need to do double duty there. Mitchell Smith — We are at war with the gangs and it isn't being handled as if it is a war. What you are doing isn't working. You have lots of meetings, task forces and implemented emphasis patrols that have worked, but not effectively enough. When are the police going to start using methods to stop gang cars dead in their tracks? We need to use the Army National Guard to fight this problem. The first time a gang member is stopped by or shot at by the Army National Guard, the problem will stop right there. If we have armed soldiers out there, pretty soon they will think twice about whether they want to be in our town. We need.to have a proactive force that will equal or exceed what gang members have. Bob West — Was disappointed the E- verify program was not approved. Many letters have been sent in favor of E- verify. Wants to see the city join the businesses that already use it. Don't be intimidated by a few members of the Hispanic community who made threats. Dora Trevino — Lives in Quincy, but volunteers her time in Yakima. There is a law against the military accepting gang members into service. Works with the Quincy City Council and belongs to the Wenatchee volunteer police. We JUNE 8, 2010 are watching what Yakima is doing and taking back the information to our community. We need to work with the legislators to change the laws. Craig Fisher — Graduated from the Citizens Academy and has been helping in the records department at the police department. There needs to be more suppression. If we don't deal with gangs in a comprehensive way, they'll just move to. another area. Citizens need to get involved in Block Watch. We need to take responsibility for our own neighborhoods and be involved in preventing crime.. Citizens can be the "eyes" and "ears" of the neighborhoods. Gangs will move somewhere else when they know they're being watched. Pat Loomis — He develops projects in Yakima and hasn't seen an impact in sales figures yet because of the gangs. However, he gets numerous questions from clients about gang activity. The Hispanic community needs to be openly involved in getting rid of the gangs. Rick deVilla — Suggested the Council schedule an expanded listening session, prioritize what you've heard at these meetings and share it with the entire community. Gang warfare is disrespect. We need to show more tolerance for each other and stop the calling the Council members and the police negative names. Nestor Hernandez — Has seen many changes in Yakima. We still have drugs and prostitutes on North First Street. Once we were an All- American community and now we're a gang community. People lose respect for law enforcement when the police don't show up quickly. Questions and Answers / Further comments Assistant Mayor Coffey — Stated she voted against E- verify for the following reasons: She is focused on eradicating gangs in Yakima and is very involved in getting the Gang -free Initiative (GFI) started. When the E- verify subject arose, she received many calls from the Hispanic community concerned that implementation would bring a division in the community. She doesn't believe E- verify is necessary now since we have programs in place that do the same thing. Our employees are legal and the people we do business with are legal. This is not the time to implement that program. It is a federal issue. The motion Council voted on was to use E- verify for every business that we dealt with. There were just too many exceptions. Encouraged attendees to apply for the GFl steering committee. Council members plan to go to Olympia and lobby to get the laws changed. They have contacted our legislators for additional help in fighting the gang problem. Council Member Lover — regarding Mr. Hochstater's remarks on Arizona, we do care what is happening in Arizona with the drug trafficking. Said he favors . suppression and is proud of what they're doing in Arizona. Gang issues are our highest priority and we've had some limited success with some 3. JUNE 8, 2010 programs. Gangs have intimidated City and County efforts. We have to admit our resources are limited and request outside help from the FBI and Homeland Security. Council Member-Ettl — Our hands are tied by laws. We passed our own ordinance to deal with nuisance drug houses. There are many programs that kids need and parenting education needs to be available. Challenged the ACLU to haul in gang members. We have a responsibility to implement E- verify. We need to have realistic expectations on what we can do with money. People want accountability, oversight and respect. Mayor Cawley — Regarding the question about the gentlemen's club, things are going through the process and the Council will have to sit over the hearing in a legal capacity. We have a Block Watch, coordinator in the community that will help any neighborhood set up a program. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 7:36 p.m. to the next Council business meeting on June 15, 2010. READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY ATTEST: CITY CLERK COUNCIL MEMBER DATE COUNCIL MEMBER DATE MICAH CAWLEY, MAYOR Minutes prepared by Deborah Kloster, City Clerk. A CD and DVD of this meeting are available in the City Clerk's Office . 4 O • •