Call the meeting of the special meeting of the St. Paul City Council to order. Roll call please. >> Buoie >> here. >> Coleman >> here. >> Johnson >> here. >> Jo >> here. >> Kim >> here. >> Yang >> here. >> And council president Aker >> here. >> Seven present. None absent. >> Welcome everyone. Thank you all so much for joining us for this really important conversation. We appreciate folks being here and we know that we are at a standing room only capacity. So, we apologize that our chamber isn't big enough, but it's it's really great to see so many folks turn out. Uh, just a couple of sort of points of business before we get started. Um, I want to recognize that in addition to the St. Paul City Council, we also have um representatives from the mayor's office here as well, including Assistant Mayor Baker. And I want to thank the mayor's office for being here as well. Um, this is going to be a public hearing on the subject of the encampment closure policy. Um so we need folks to keep their comments on that topic. Um we have two minutes per person to testify and um it's my very unenviable job to keep everyone to the two minutes. Um the reason for that is because we want to make sure everyone has equal time. We want to be fair um and we want to make sure we can get through as many folks tonight as possible. So, please help me, help you, help us um by paying attention to the timer that will be right in front of you while you're testifying. I will gently but firmly cut you off at two minutes to make sure that we have enough time for everyone. Please know, especially if you do get cut off, that this is not the only way to communicate with the council. We all are accessible both in-person meetings, emails, phone calls. if you brought something written tonight and you don't get through all of it and you want to pass that around. We can make copies for all of us to see. So, there's plenty of ways to reach us um besides at a public hearing. Um I also want to note that because we scheduled this quite quickly, um there are council members who have other conflicts and who need to leave and we will lose our quorum at 6:30. So, we will need to stop the meeting at 6:30. I'm hopeful that we can conclude and hear from everyone by then. That's another reason for the two minutes. If we get close to 6:30 and we have not heard from everyone, we will recess the meeting and we will find another time for a part two of this conversation. But I know that a lot of folks really want to be heard tonight. So, what I would say to folks is this. Um, if you are listening to someone else and they testify and they say exactly the same thing you were going to say or something really similar, feel free to come up, say your name, and say, "I echo what I just heard that person say. You are here. You are being counted." And um you don't need to repeat something exactly as someone else said it. That will help us also hear from more folks. Um so with that, I think Oh. Oh, I'm so sorry. Yes. Um when you come up, please stand between the two microphones. Um you shouldn't need to adjust them at all or lean over towards them. They do a good job picking you up just fine. So you can stand up straight and tall. Um again, please start with your name and where you're coming from. And then when you're done, please make sure to sign in on either of the two signin sheets. Um so with that we will >> what? >> Okay. Um so with that um this is the public hearing and I guess what I would do is just say we'll we'll take folks from both sides um form a line as we get to the end of the line come up and continue forming the line and we'll just do our best. So welcome up whoever is our first speaker. Hi, city council council president Knocker and members of the council. My name is Nikolai Selnus Whitehead. I'm a metro transit bus operator, a person in recovery, an organizer, and somebody who's experienced homelessness myself. At one point, I was living out of a storage unit in DC. Someone brought me a packet of ramen and that small act of kindness helped save my life. It's what brought me to recovery. It's what brought me back home overnight. It wasn't overnight. It wasn't through force. It built trust in me and showed me that another life was possible and that kindness was possible. I came back to the Twin Cities because of the strength of the recovery community here. Many of my fellows in recovery came here for the same reason. But that recovery infrastructure has been decimated. Recovery based housing has been lost. CPRS workers and restorative care providers have gone unpaid or faced delayed payments and programs that depend the people depend on are struggling to survive. At the same time, the administration says that these camps have grown dramatically over the last two years. That timing says a lot to me. We cannot dismantle recovery and housing pathways, watch homelessness increase, and then threat and then treat the people living outside as the problem. I have personally tried to use the coordinated entry system. It's complicated. It is slow and it is has barriers. It requires documents, phone access, transportation, persistence, and often a trusted person who already understands the system. Many people living outside do not have that connection. The mayor's representatives today talked about dignity, coordination, and being stubbornly helpful, but the numbers spoke for themselves. There are 124 people at Pigsai alone. The city could not give us a clear number with confirmed for the confirmed voluntary placements. Even using the highest shelter availability figure that they talked about today, the available beds are only a fraction of what we would need to house all the people at Pigsai. The city is in no way ready for this closure. I am asking for more than a pause. I'm asking the city to bring back recovery based housing vouchers, provide emergency grants and reliable payments to CPRS workers and recovery and restorative care providers. Fund the trusted people who can help residents move from survival into stability. Do not close pig's eye unless every resident has a safe, appropriate, and voluntary placement. >> Thank you very much. Make sure to sign in. [applause] I just I really appreciate I appreciate the applause. I do want to make sure we get through as many folks as possible. So, please let people start on their time. >> Um, thank you, sir. I never met you, but I want to say this is Jim Seaman from the New Freedom Store. We are a charity that serves the homeless. We provide tents, blankets, sleeping bags, uh, and we do so rain or shine. We provide food and we provide water too. Our first role we feel as an emergency service is to help people. To help people. It's in the Bible to bring them out of darkness. Isaiah said, "Now let us think that about this. Please, dear members of city council, you too, whether you are Christian or not, are asked in this Christian culture to share that responsibility. this Christian culture who years ago helped slaves to find their way to freedom long before the Civil War was fought. The new Pilgrim Baptist stands here today, a living testimony of your heritage and your heritage and your heritage. We are much different than any other city I've ever lived in. And let's embrace that. Let's embrace that. Let's say we stand with the people. Now, first I want to say something. Do you all remember what the four freedoms are? The four freedoms are the four freedoms. Franklin Delanor Roosevelt named them. Do you know what the last two are? The third one IS FREEDOM FROM WANT, FREEDOM FROM NEED. And the fourth one is freedom from fear. >> Now, I want you all to know I've been here when I've seen the mayor's people come through the camp. I've been here and I've seen city deputies walking through the camp. >> Thank you, sir. Please sign in. Welcome. >> Very good. Thank you. Thank you. [applause and cheering] >> Welcome. >> Hello. My name is Samuel Tway, Ward 6. Two years ago, I was walking down a creek when I lost my footing and fell face first into the water in a very undignified way. A woman fishing under the bridge nearby couldn't help but start laughing at me. We ended up talking for a while and before I knew it, a friendship had formed. She wasn't under the bridge just to go fishing, however. She was living under the bridge in order to escape her abusive husband. He would beat her. He had complete control over her finances and prevented her from having a phone. One day, when I came back to the bridge, I found her with broken ribs. Her husband had found out where she had been hiding. At this point, I took it upon myself to help her out and became her authorized representative. When I asked her about women's shelters and why she didn't go to one, she had the following to say. There is no privacy. You're only allowed to bring a single bag. Whatever items you do bring end up getting stolen. You're not guaranteed a spot when you return. And the staff treats every guest as a nuisance rather than a person. It is no wonder that she preferred being under the bridge. I ended up letting my friend move in with me for a few months until she's able to move in with family. I believe that ending homelessness can be achieved by offering resources that are known to help. We We need to treat the causes, not the symptom. We need effective drug addiction rehabilitation centers, better temporary shelters, affordable housing, decriminalization of drug possession, accessible mailing addresses for general delivery across the city instead of the singular main post office in downtown, and city workers providing outreach to help those that are techiterate or otherwise unaware of how to utilize city resources. Disbanding the encampments is not the correct decision. It is kicking the can down the road and wishing for someone else to deal with the problem. It is shameful, cruel, and inhumane. >> We are all thrust into a life which is inherently unfair, and every single one of us is a product of our circumstances. It is therefore our ethical duty as a society to help those who are the most in need, regardless of their wealth, criminal record, or perceived value as citizens. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. [applause] >> Welcome. >> Good evening. My name is David Mcki. Live at 1292 Marshall Avenue in St. Paul. I have had the frankly privilege to be involved with a church group that's been going for the last year and a half to many of the homeless camps particularly in this last year to the one at Pigsai camp. Um I say privileged because I've met some made some wonderful relationships with people many people who are working and doing their best to try and survive. many people who are dealing with difficulties um in their lives that have made it impossible for them to have housing right now. But we have formed relationships and be able to support them and I'm glad that we have not lost a single person due to the elements um in that because of the efforts we've had. I do appreciate that the city um I I believe I hope has the best interests of these people in heart by going forward with this eviction. I am concerned that there seems to be a lack of planning and forethought for what they're supposed to do. Uh just meeting yesterday at the camp seeing people from Ramsey County who said that they were surprised that this was happening. they have not been informed about this, seeing people from other charities that have been continually going out there as have we who were blindsided by this. So if that is the case with these people who want to be partners with you, who want to assist, who want to come up with a solution, if we're not informed about this or to let know or be part of this collaboration, my belief in the chances of success of this are coming into question. There are groups, there are people, there are entities that want to help, but there needs to be communication. I encourage you, I adjure you to connect with them and make plans. You do not have enough time by August 5th to take care of those people. There are too many people need housing. There are people that have been waiting for over a year have been enlist that have not been able to get housing. So, we don't have it in place now. Doing this right now. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Welcome. >> [applause] >> Hi, my name is Rob Landley. 10 years ago, I spent about four years and five figures. I did the math. It was actually closer to eight years and well over $10,000 getting one homeless person off the street. There was nothing wrong with her. No drugs, no disabilities. She just moved from Chicago to Austin in 2008 and her new job didn't exist anymore when she arrived due to the national economic crash. She was stuck with a lease, ran through her three months of savings, her car was repossessed, her purse stolen with all her ID her first week on the street, and she couldn't get new ID without paying off thousands of dollars of tickets for flying, i.e. holding up a sign at a street corner asking for money or food. I met her a couple of months later and spent years helping her get stable again. I'm aware how hard the problem can be, but these are people. Here in St. Paul, people have collected together to form a community. They have the option to leave the camps at any time. They believe it's their best option. You are saying you know better than them. You can't convince them of that, possibly because you're being patronizing and have never been homeless yourselves. So, you're using force. They they're already free to spend four hours each evening traveling around the city trying to find an open shelter bed which may have been peed on, has no privacy, different neighbors each night, and tends to be run by organizations like the Salvation Army, well known for hating groups disproportionately represented among the homeless like transgay and disabled people in the camp. They know their neighbors or at least have some consistency night to night. Many have a tent or their own sleeping bag that zips closed, providing a little privacy and better storage than a backpack can that can walk away if their back is turned. Neighbors can take turns watching their stuff. You're doing this because nimbies don't want to be reminded they exist. At the 12:30 presentation today, Mayor Herr's deputy couldn't say who owned the land. So, you're not trespassing them from private property. Mayor Her is attacking St. Paul residents the same way ICE did. First, they came for Mayor Her wants to scatter them across the city and let next winter kill them. I [snorts] can't see any other reason to do this. Removing centralization and economies of scale doesn't make providing services cheaper. >> Thank you very much. >> My name is Caitlyn. I live in Ward One. I want to thank everyone for their commentary. Um, I'm proud of all of us. It's an embarrassment and a shame that we have to be here. I live in Ward One. I'm a licensed graduate social worker. I've worked with people experiencing homelessness since 2007. I've heard so many elected and appointed officials at all levels over nearly two decades after empty promise after empty promise about housing. You care on the campaign trail. You care when somebody comes for a legislative visit. Who cares when it's time to house the people? It's always another jurisdiction's responsibility. It's always a federal failing. The county didn't do whatever. That doesn't make a difference to people on the streets. Elected officials and appointed officials should improve people's material conditions. That's your job. No matter who does it or the reasons they give, every eviction from a camp, from housing, a foreclosure of an owned home, everyone is a botched public policy and a moral failure. Every single eviction every time. It is incredibly insulting that the mayor is on a PR campaign against unhoused people a few weeks before her first budget proposal comes out. That's cute. Reject the notion that unhoused people, some might not accept help. That was an unacceptable thing for the mayor of this city to say in an interview with Minnesota Public Radio. It was harmful to say that. It's also unkind and untrue. Nobody chooses not to be helped. We don't have a safety net. Our helping systems suck. Camp residents who chose their own humanity and resilience now are being insulted in public by the mayor. They chose themselves and they bet on themselves cuz nobody else would. The city reports that in the last year there's been 80 first responder visits to Pig's Eye for medical emergencies. The vast majority are for medical emergencies. How will closing the camp stop medical emergencies? It won't. But we've heard a lot about drugs and sex and fires. Those are dog whistles for poor people. Reject that notion. >> Thank you very much. Make sure to sign. >> Also, oh, the mayor said she WOULD BUILD PUBLIC HOUSING. HOW? WITH WHAT MONEY? That's federal money. [applause and cheering] [applause] >> Hello. I want to say my name is Janelle Freeman Anderson and I am an advocate and I am for freedom from the streets and Twin Cities are house union and I am also homeless. Do that make sense? I'm an advocate helping homeless people and I'm homeless. >> I'M HOMELESS because you know why? Because the simple fact is that it is no housing. It is no housing. Y'all say affordable housing. I get social security. $800 and something dollars. That don't do nothing. We need deeply affordable housing. And when do we need it? We need it now. We don't need it whenever you say it. Another thing is I'm born and raised in St. Paul. Born and raised in Ramsey County Hospital. how that makes me feel that I cannot even live in my own city in my own backyard and y'all won't even listen to me. I put a proposals up there and since y'all won't listen to it, I put it up there to tell y'all what's going on and what could make this difference appear, but nobody's listening. Nobody's listening. Y'all want to do things your own way and doing things your own way and not with the people. the people that is homeless. And this is not my first rodeo being homeless. Do you know how it feels when you in the shelter and everybody's looking at you and saying you are a person that's supposed to help people and you're in here and they asking me more questions than these people out there. >> The people that you're giving money to. >> I don't even get paid. I've been here eight years doing this work and got paid for. Got two grants, but it wasn't to pay me. It was to help the people. And part of that I am the people. >> We do matter. [cheering] [applause] >> Welcome up. >> Hi, I'm Alan Jeang and I live at the uh academy as uh known as a professor teacher that's teaching them at at the campsite. And I say saving these places is very important to saving lives or saving humans in the future because they bulldoze this place. I consider humans are in danger because they're going to be those that goes to the shelter and shelter they only open to a certain extent knowing that they got to have video advertisement of people being outside for them to have funding that will pay for all that shelter that sponsor all that charity. Right? So even if they still have beds, they will still close the door to to those and those that don't know where to go, being left with no food, no water, no clothes, no longing, no nothing can make a person very hopeless and they wonder why there was hatred and crime back then. All right. And then if so, we got to save these places. Not just that, summer is okay, but winter, y'all might call it winter, but we out there, we call it ice age where everything turns into ice. water, food, our boots. Uh, it was hard. >> And when it comes down to it, they wonder what CO was back then. Okay. CO, if you want to avoid that type of time again, then we got to save these places cuz when people get sick, that [ __ ] can spread. All right. Is and we So you if we want to avoid this that type of situation again in lifetime, then we got to save these places that are saving lives and saving the humans. And right now it's compared to way back then to to this very day I've been saying that everything's been improving. The safety hazards had gone down. Uh the cuz uh it's been good. It's been great. All the new faces uh new ra uh new residents and new neighbors from all over the world from the ocean especially because it's been flooding a lot. So the old faces they have found their happy places. They have found their job. They got back on their feet and they're okay now. So right now, uh, the cabinet is something that I consider that is important because it will help a lot with what's going on cuz right now >> Thank you very much. I do need you to stop there and sign in. Thank you. [applause] [cheering] >> Before before we have our next speaker, before we have our next speaker, I I do want to remind folks I I totally appreciate the enthusiasm. The quicker that we can have people come up and start talking, the more people will be able to hear tonight. I also want to just ask, I know there are some folks who may be here with small children. If you're here with a small child and you're here to testify, I'd love to ask others to let you take priority um because that can be challenging. So, >> AMEN. >> Welcome [cheering and applause] up. >> Hello. My name is Shannon Johnson and I'd like to start out saying that I'm a beneficiary of the homeless pro program through the HUDVASH and I was homeless for about five years um 12 years ago and a trans and I'm still in a transitional housing program that helped me get apartment and uh and then I've been involved with the home homeless outreach through my church and um and anyways I I've benefited a lot from the programs and and the homeless shelters. And anyways, hearing that these people are being thrown out and patronized as use um useless um really tears my heart out. And uh these are good people and I and nobody's you know immune to homelessness and how we treat these people um is uh you know it's horrific and that unless you have a better plan or something instead of throwing them out on the street and abandon them once again to just ro and and go to anywhere they can possibly find and to be keep pushing the buck um is no solution that they need they need a place to go to and for now I think the the you know the pig's eye places are really not bad I mean could be do a better way have bet a better way of managing it maybe but um anyways um um I'm I'm very thankful for my house housing and uh every day you know and I I don't take it for granted at all and everybody deserves deserves to be treated um better than cattle. >> Anyways, that's all I have to say. >> Thank you very much. [applause] Welcome up. Welcome up. >> Hi, my name is Justin Ford. I'm in a camp that's off of Laurian Street. I've been homeless for two years and from what I noticed, we don't get no help from the city. We don't get no help from the state. I provide more resources with my to my fellow residents than you guys do. >> I'm there with them on the ground when things are going bad. Nobody else comes out there. And it takes y'all to say that we're going to close these camps down for people to start showing up. And half the people that come down, they don't even know what's going on. >> Nobody says who they are. They don't in introduce themselves. They don't build relationships with us. It's hard for us to reach out when y'all treat us less than. >> We're human. We We have a heart, you know. We bleed the same. We care the same. You know, we have families to go back to. We have We also want to work. We look at like we get looked at on like we do drugs. Like we all drug addicts and we're scum and we no good for nobody. But that's not true. We all hardwork. We all care. We all have responsibilities to each other. I ask you for you guys to reconsider what you guys are planning on doing because August 5th is not it's not enough time. >> You guys don't have nothing set in place for us. There's not enough beds for us to be housed in. We need support. We need help. We need We need opportunity. When are we going to get that? We have not got that once. And I've been there two years. The city, they come down there and they destroy our stuff, everything that we have. How can we move on when they throwing away our IDs, they throwing away our social security card, throwing away every single possession that we have? How can we better ourselves when the people that you hire is doing this [ __ ] to us? >> I want y'all to reconsider what's going on. >> Make things better because it's not getting no better. Thank you very much. [cheering] [applause] [applause] >> Welcome up. Hello, my name is Equidin Wilks and I was homeless for about three four years starting back in 2019. I got to see firsthand everything that was spoke on today. People being treated like nuisances. People being treated like they had committed a crime. People being treated like it'd be better if they just went off and died somewhere. I don't know why so many people who shouldn't be working in these shelters are given employment in these shelters. More of us who are better suited to serve the purpose in these shelters should take those jobs. If we're not the people who's populating those jobs, who are? We need to be the people working at the shelters, the police stations, the courouses, >> city council, >> city council. We got to pursue our dreams. These aren't the only people that can be in these positions. We've got to stand up and we've got to get out there and we've got to populate these positions. Otherwise, the same [ __ ] who've always been there will keep populating these positions. >> That's about all I got to say on it. >> Thank you very much. [applause] Welcome up. Welcome. I'm Katherine Card. I live on Edgecom Road in St. Paul. I want to ask something first. Um that I mean we use the term homeless all the time. We use it, oh that homeless person. But a lot of the times it's home the homeless or that homeless. I would ask that instead of doing that, instead of using that term because it's become so uh stereotyping, so hateful that we use the words our neighbors, our unhoused neighbors. that we in our minds all of the time. For those of us especially that are housed, remember that all the folks we talk about as unhoused are our neighbors. Members of this community, whether you were born here or not. Secondly, I would ask um that you put aside thoughts again like so so many have said of clearing the encampments until you have stood up sufficient, consistent, safe, accessible year around low barrier shelter for the numbers of people that not only are in need now, but you project may be in need in the future. A resource that will always be there that's not thrown together just to, you know, get rid of the complaints in the community now, but a resource that will be here for for ever going forward. some that's one that's accessible to everyone regardless of um whether they're sober or not sober or disable. >> Make sure to sign in. Thank you so much. >> Welcome up. [applause] >> Welcome [applause] members of members of the council. I'd first like to say who I am. My name is Tony Carter. I'm 75year-old St. Paul Lightite. Have lived in St. Paul all my life. Educated St. Paul. Worked for the city of St. Paul for 30 years. And still with my wife Marca participate in helping the city of St. Paul residents. We live in a home that was built 102 years ago by my grandfather in St. Paul. We are St. Paul. And I'd like to read something to you. A poem. A poem that is right out on the sidewalk in front of this building. I need people who will see my cracked self and not try to play the hero, nor come swooping in on wings of here I am cheer up, nor the mighty flexing arms of advice, but will sit next to me and wait for me to sort out the pieces while I glue myself together. I'm not saying that we don't do anything. I'm not saying that we do what we want to do. I'm saying that we should not have toxic positivity. >> That we should involve the people who are concerned, not coming in riding in on the horse telling them what you need. My wife and I were there on Sunday. We fed 160 people and ran out of buns. We estimate there to be 350 people there instead of 125 >> as the uh city's plan has said. We believe that the people there have a relationship to people in t-shirts, not people in suits. >> They will talk to us. And when they talk to us, they say to us, "Where are they?" >> Thank you, sir. Please make sure to sign in. Thank you. [applause] >> Welcome up. >> Hi, good evening. My name is Kelly Coons. I'm the founder of Street Justice Ministry. We're a mobile outreach. We go out at night, so I'm very aware of what goes on. I'm in the streets at least once to twice a week, four hours a night. And in the time that I'm out there, um, when we are ready to get them to detox, I just want to let you know we, a lot of these detoxes don't even answer the phone. They say they're 24 hours. There's no beds available. They don't pick up the phone and they don't return your phone calls. I'm out there. I see what's going on. Um, you have a very young group of children out here at this point from the ages of 17 to 24. A mass amount. I'm feeding on average, and I count my plates, 240 hot plates, plus snack packs, hygiene kits, and you're going to go in and destroy everything, right? Cuz I'm already preparing for the move cuz I got to stay ready. These people are going to need it all over again. When you go in and take out their tents and you take out their livelihood, you're beating them while they're already down. We need to go in and impact and not impose and really walk in compassion. We have a really big problem right now since I started doing this. The encampment has grown from maybe roughly to 90 people to almost 340 350. It's not 140 people. I don't know where people are getting this number from. And I'm out there and I know and I see it. I mean, we have police officers are not responding to people who are overdosing that wait 15 minutes to response. I think we need to go for the dope dealers instead of going after the people on the streets who have no home. And then the amount of money it's going to cost to destroy this encampment, right? not only destroy what they have, you're talking about over I looked into what it was saying about $300,000 to move these encampments. Why don't you take that money and invest it in some type of housing? Whether you like if they get high or not, that doesn't matter. They're people. [applause] And these are not all people on drugs. These are people who have been abused. These are people who have to choose between a car or a home and they're choosing their car because then they can still get to work. You have people that want jobs. They can't get a job. Why? Because they're convicted felon. Please make sure to sign in. Thank you. [applause] >> Welcome. >> Hi. Um I'm from the Pig Island encampment. Um I've been there for about a year and a half. My name is BK. Um I understand like if y'all come and just keep destroying like our tents with the city coming and cleaning constantly. Like all you're doing is displacing us and having like 300 something people come back downtown. Like do you want that? like where it's going to increase crime, it's going to increase like uh Walgreens getting closed or different stores getting closed and having to refurbish everything and just property damage and it's like which uh which cost is going to outweigh which one does it cost more to move us back downtown where we're going to expand and become more and more going to come back and displace our homes cuz you call us homeless but like we live there you know what I'm saying we got a place to say we got even if it's a tent you know and like that's our freedom That's our right. You know, we had nowhere else to go. Like, why would you want to we not come to your house kicking your door in? >> We could. >> We could. [applause] >> Thank you very much. >> WELCOME. [applause] [cheering] >> WELCOME. >> HI, my name is Israel Dri. I'm a resident of St. Paul Ramsey County. It's been years. Um I don't even know if y'all know that we not going nowhere. >> Y'all we not we got kicked us from with the trains and the other ones Bruce Ventos and we ended up at Laurian. Now what? We already set up. We got a community there. We got villages in there. Come walk down there right now. Each one of y'all come down there and walk. We got it. How about y'all send some construction workers to teach us how to build that. We already built up and build it real nice. Give us some skills. We got bikes down there. Most people ride on bikes. Teach us how TO BUILD A BIKE. SEND some of them workers that employ some people to come down there and teach us some skills because we're not going nowhere. I don't know what y'all thinking. >> Y'all think y'all can what? Kick us down the road. Yes, we'll go down the road again. >> We already here. Come meet us where we at. >> Welcome. [applause] Hi, my name is Jaclyn Leavanir. I'm a resident in St. Paul over in Mounds Park, Ward 7. Um, and uh, I'm also an educator. Uh, but I came because this is just deep on my heart and I the city says they want safety, but the city also says the shelters don't have enough space, which they don't. So, tell me, how is it safe for our neighbors to be without their tents and their belongings? How is it safe for our unhoused neighbors to have no community and nowhere to go? This so-called plan isn't addressing safety. It's spreading out individuals in an effort to make safety concerns invisible. To make our unhoused neighbors invisible. Making our unhoused neighbors invisible does not respect their humanity, does not create safety, and is not how I want our city to create to treat our community members. Aside from the lack of safety in the plan, this plan will only create a cycle of destruction and pushing people around, repeatedly wasting resources, resources that could be better used to improve access to resources, right, and to housing. So, as a resident of W 7, I would much rather see resources put into outreach and housing, stop clearing of the encampments, and let our neighbors live. [applause] Good evening, council president, members of the council. My name is Adam Beers and I'm a person who has personally experienced homelessness over 10 years ago. I now hold a BA in sociology and psychology and worked in behavioral health and substance use services for nearly a decade. Throughout my career, I've worked with people navigating housing instability, poverty, trauma, chaotic substance use, untreated mental health conditions, and barriers to healthcare. Those are some of the social determinants of health. And today, I'm asking you to look through a public health lens with me because we're talking about people. If people would have forgotten about me, I wouldn't be standing here today. This isn't a budget meeting or a meeting about parks and recreation. This is a meeting about people and as you say, their health, safety, and dignity. The city's own data shows Hart housed only 75 total people in 2023 while identifying an average of 115 people experiencing unsheltered homelessness every week. And those numbers have probably tripled today. They tell me we're ask those numbers don't tell me we're solving homelessness. They tell me we're asking an overwhelmed system to do the impossible. and that's not improving community health, safety, or dignity. The city also says HART connects people to critical health and housing services. I am grateful for their hard work, but to inform many of you who have never interacted with a person living on the streets, those relationships take weeks or months to build, and a sweep can destroy that trust in one single morning. We already know the better option. Seattle's tiny home villages help 63% of residents move into permanent housing. Austin's Community First Village has maintained an 88% housing retention rate. These communities invested in stability instead of displacement. Evicting hundreds of people from these encampments without a plan separates them from medications, identification, case managers, and the outreach workers. I don't see many city workers, but many of outreach workers who are sitting here today who spent months or years building that trust. Sweeps increase instability, make people harder to reach, and will increase the risk of overdose and death. This means a lot to me because I know what it's like to have nowhere safe to go. But I also know what it feels like when one person believes you're still worth helping. >> Sorry. Tonight, I'm asking you to have the courage to tell May or her that public health doesn't begin with a bulldozer. It begins when we decide every person deserves a chance to have their own set of keys, a couch, a hot shower, and a safe place to sleep at night. Because 6 months from now, these encampments won't be the question. The question will be whether the people who live there are still alive. >> Make sure to sign in. Thank you. Hi, my name is Guadal Lupe Fondrin and I am homeless. I've been homeless since March. Me and my husband, we were u became homeless because of the fraud situation. Um I had to leave Summit Academy School. I had to leave housing. Now I know when there's crimes committed, there's a restitution. What is the resitution to the to the people that are being caught in between the cracks of the fraud situation? They're these people are not being held accountable. Not everybody people just get to shut down, change their name, shut down the business and they take all our finances and we end up on the streets. Me and my husband have been there since March. Okay, we have all the resources but we there needs to be u the vision is to create community wholeness and stability. the plan. Organize workers for prior for prioritizing who's ready and help create a plan so those can get ready. Need we need compassion, empathy, opportunity, and their due diligence with networking people to stable housing. Connection is important. We need that. There is no reason why we need to be out here. Not everybody is on drugs. Everybody wants to live in a tent. I don't want to wash myself with a bottle of water every day. Okay? It's not my husband's fault. We We have everything. We are the surviving of a fraud situation and it's not fair. You know, it's dangerous out there. It's so dangerous. You don't know whether you're gonna be raped, kidnapped. And I have my husband, but what about those who don't have a husband? Who don't have somebody else? Please think and consider humanity. God bless you. Thank you. [applause] Just just a quick quick reminder to folks to please make sure you sign in after you're done testifying. Welcome up >> siblings at home and here in the chamber, please turn your iPhones, smartphones to Isaiah chapter 5 verse 20. And while I asked the council members a question very pointedly, the American Public Health Association, the oldest and largest organization of public health professionals in the world, what data has assistant mayor Baker shown you that contradicts their evidence that these sweeps are ineffective, they're deadly, and they don't do what the intended plan is for the city of St. Paul? What evidence have you seen from the assistant mayor or mayor herd that suggests the oldest and most wise organization on public health is wrong? What data actually went into this discussion? In fact, how many people were actually talked to? >> How many residents of the encampments were talked to? >> On July 8th, as a newish member to the countywide call, I was floored to see the frontline workers of this county. Had no goddamn idea that these camps were going to get and closed. >> I didn't know we was there until >> That's right. There are some of the best people on the front lines here in this city after we saw what happened with Operation Metro Surge. And I would like to remind you all that they have not left. ICE is still here. >> The beautiful bill is going to cut SNAP benefits. It is going to cut Medicaid. It is going to result in more of our friends and our neighbors falling into an unhouse situation. >> I didn't see nothing from the presentation today from Mr. Cedric Baker. I haven't seen anything that actually shows the semblance of a coordinated plan. You can put paint on this and say whatever you want, but Isaiah 5:20 says, "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil. Who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." This plan is against science. This plan is against the people of St. Paul who want to show up but weren't at the table. We can do better. We should do better. And I say woe unto you, Cedric Baker. I say woe unto you, Mayor Her. I say woe unto you, every council member who supports this as well as our county commissioners and the mayor of St. Paul who is NOT IN THIS ROOM. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. [applause] [applause] >> Welcome up. >> I come here in love. I come here in peace. And I love every single person in this room. >> Okay, talk about My name is Mariah Anderson. >> Go ahead, please. >> I'm 17 years old and I've recently graduated from high school of recording arts and I'm currently >> I'm currently a participant in the St. Paul program, Youth on Boards. I'm speaking to you as a St. Paul youth resident from Ward 4 Planning District 12 who has previously experienced a lack of stable housing. When I first saw the headlines regarding the issue, I thought it was fake. It shocked me that this was the chosen solution over a long-term resolution. If you truly wanted to solve the issue of homelessness in our city, we wouldn't be talking here today. I would suggest that the city of St. Paul invest in a long-term situ solution rooted in empathy and compassion. A solution that is safe, effective, sustainable, and accessible. Something like allocating the $300,000 to renovating the many abandoned buildings to provide to our unhoused neighbors for free. [applause] For free. [cheering] I've met many of you personally. I saw all of you last week. Um, and I've discussed with some of you about how difficult it is to engage the community in important issues. Well, we are here and what we want is clear. It's not all of us, but it's enough. So, I trust you. I trust I put my full trust in you to advocate for the unhoused youth especially. They may not be living in a home, but they are living. They are living human beings. >> Amen. [applause] And to the spectators and speakers here today, I urge you to do what you can, how you can. I personally leave I keep snacks and water bottles in my car. So, every time I drive by and I see someone on the street, I I give it to them. I give it to them. And that's not everyone's thing, but being here and speaking today can be your thing. And that's important. It's important that you show up. And to the elected officials present, please remember that you serve the people of St. Paul, including the unhoused ones. [applause and cheering] I leave you with this. Doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. >> Have an amazing day. >> Thank you very much. [applause] >> Welcome up. >> Hi. Uh my name is Kumi Smith and I'm a professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. Today I speak on behalf of uh myself, not the university. Um the St. Paul officials are framing the planned closure of these encampments around public health. The concerns that they cite like fire, overdose, these are very real threats. However, the proposal to use closure as a solution to them does not make any logical sense. It doesn't take having a PhD to know that sweeps do not put out fires. Sweeps do not reverse overdoses. Sweeps do not create shelter beds. Uh when we're interviewing encampment residents, they have really logical and uh effective solutions. They want things like fire extinguishers, reliable emergency response, portaotties, handwashing stations. Um even without these services though, residents and outreach workers have done an amazing job of managing a lot of these risks on their own. But using sweeps to address public health is not only illogical, it is covering up the real detriment of sweeps to public health. We know that when these things happen that people lose ID, they lose medications, they lose survival gear. It undoes critical progress that medical and housing teams make when they can reliably locate where their clients are. Outreach nurses have told me that their case load has doubled now that they can actually find their uh that their their patients in these camps and that they spend most of their time actually treating them. Um, the scariest thing of all is research that my team has uncovered showing that sweeps can actually take the manageable health public health risks that we face in these camps and turn them into fatal ones. We have found that our data shows that the overdose rate consistently spikes in the wake of a sweep up to up to two weeks after. I'll say that again. The overdose risk of not just encampment residents as of everybody spikes in the two weeks following a sweep. Our our statistical models can't tell us why, but people with lived experience can tell us why. They talk about severed medical access and the community network that keeps people alive being broken apart. I implore the city to halt these uh closures in the name of public health. Um if if the city wants to base their decisions in public health evidence, we have plenty for you. And we we do want to ask these >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. And to stop treating our neighbors as a visibility problem and to start investing in the systems of care that keep them alive. >> Make sure to sign in. Thank [cheering] you. [applause] Come on up. >> Welcome. >> My name is Melissa Kennedy. I'm a mother. I'm a grandmother. And I've read that most people are two paychecks away from being where I'm at. I've only been in the camp for about a week and a half. I've experienced the camp for about three years. I never thought that I'd be there, but here I am. And I've had more help from people who have absolutely nothing to offer, who will offer their last bottle of water and have I don't understand how we got to this, but I know that it's going to take everyone to fix it. Just pushing it around to another space or separating us is not going to do it. And may I say that I feel like um having us in the encampment, we at least can band together and fight for what we need. >> If you separate us all, >> we won't be able to even have a say >> cuz we're scattered. We're a community, a community that that most of us were taxpayers, voters, and we will be again. >> So, I ask that you help us. Don't hurt us. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] Hello, I'm Tuvia Bergson Michaelelsson and I live in Ward One. Other folks have spoken about the reality on the ground more eloquently than I can. So, I'm going to take a different approach. I am a public policy student at the Humphrey School and I have to say I would be scared to submit the mayor's plan in one of my classes, let alone go. My professors would ask, "What's the endgame here?" People will form new encampments no matter how many sweeps you conduct, unless they have a meaningful path out of that cycle. This plan will just create more deaths in the short term and more encampments in the long term. Another question they'd ask is what the research says. Studies in Seattle and LA showed that a large majority of displaced people remain unsheltered after sweeps. Baro's calculated that overdose deaths rise by 71%. Uh Meyer and Chang found that there's a higher risk of violence in the aftermath of sweeps. And that's all before the psychological cost. I know encampments aren't exactly perfect, but the research almost universally agrees that sweeps are the wrong answer. There's something I think a lot about in class. When businesses leave town, vote with their feet, we ask why, and we try to find a policy solution. The same is true for homeowners. But I think we often forget to do the same for struggling social services. Folks often avoid shelters for a reason. >> Encampments are a form of people voting with their feet just as much as anything else. I ask you to work with our encamped neighbors to find real long-term solutions. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. [applause] >> My name is Jason Lopez. I've been homeless out here for about five years. I've been in some of the the uh Kimble Court for two years. Um the bathrooms filled with feces for weekends at a time. >> Um people being kicked out for lies and allegations from the property management that that's that's our shelter. I'm going to the bathroom 50% of the time outside anyways >> because somebody's knotted off in the bathroom or there's feces in the bathroom like a trannosaurus right with massive diarrhea. >> How How is that right? So so much roaches that they clear out a bedroom and it looks like I can stick my hand through the door of roaches. There is no door there. It's all roaches covering the door. I feel like I can stick my hand through it. That's that's that's our our shelter >> filled with lies, theft from our property management, bikes being taken because we don't have enough room to store our stuff and our bikes. We can only have a friend over for so many so long. We only get seven overnights a month. Come on. I shouldn't be told when I can have and when I can't have friends over. >> THAT'S A FREEDOM. >> THAT'S A FREEDOM. >> That's one of our rights. >> Our rights are being taken away because of lies and neglect for people to actually look into the things that people are saying. I feel more home outside in these encampments than I do in in a shelter. That's not right. I should not feel threatened in a shelter >> by people that are higher than me and no more people just because they can go to the courts and say, "Oh, he he didn't pay his rent because he signed somewhere else." >> Thank you very much. Make sure to sign in. Awesome. [applause] Hello, my name is Rebecca Homemard and I am a resident of W 7. I have owned and lived in my home in Dayton's Bluff for two years and I've been represent represented by Council Member Johnson the whole time. I am vehemently against the mayor's encampment plan. Other folks have explained in thorough detail why this crisis or why this plan is less of a plan and more of a crisis in the making. I want to call in our city council and specifically mine, council member Johnson. I expect an elected official to represent all of their residents of their ward, including those at the fish hatchery encampment. I'm really disappointed that you're not. Every human deserves shelter, access to clean water, and culturally sensitive and safe care, support, community, and shelter. With this plan, many many people will not have access to any of those things. They already have a really tenuous grasp on any on all of these resources. So, why are we taking that away from them? Why now in the heat of the summer? Why now with so few extra shelter beds available? >> Exactly. Earlier today, um the the public safety committee reported that there are only an additional less than 50 beds for >> 49 >> 49 beds for an estimated an estimated about 200 residents of these encampments, which we've heard from several people who are active in the community that that's just not true. Amen. >> So why now with no advanced notice for real and strategic planning to occur across the city and the county? Why also is city council proposing to expand their salaries to 70% of the mayor's pay when our medium income in the city is less than half of that. >> Many many people are just two paychecks away from losing their homes. We all have family and friends who have either experienced homelessness, are extremely close to experiencing homelessness, or are homeless. >> We need time and we need a real plan. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. [cheering] >> Also, it says that you need to have an address right here on this signin sheet. And many of the people in this room don't have an address. Thank you. >> Welcome up. I just think that the the least dignified thing is being >> Sorry, can you just start with your name and where you're coming from? >> Oh, Michael. My name is Mike. Um, and um I just think that the most or the least dignified thing is to um have to uh let the let you guys tell us that we failed and that you should tell us where to go. >> We should sweep YOU GUYS OUT. THAT'S REALLY HOW the the government that's how that's how I thought America worked anyway. So, um, >> thanks Mark. >> And, uh, [ __ ] I forgot. >> I'm blanking. I'm just going to go. >> That's okay. [laughter] [applause] >> Welcome up. Hello, my name is Ixul. You could name any ward and I probably live there. What I'm about to say is all connected and is inspired by black, Afroindigenous, and indigenous practice. as understanding the interconnectedness we as living beings have with each other and the land despite what different councils, representatives, companies, departments, wards, or any other Anglo-Saxon or colonial embodiment tries to force people onto. We do not live in a alienated or separated world. >> And the smog in the air is proof of that. and the the lead coming out of uh Northern Iron, police blockades, drone usage, the criminalization of youth with terms like Somali gangs or legal protesters being called political terrorists or disabled journalists being attacked by SPD. And now what we are talking about is encampment sweeps. These are all examples and reminders that colonialism is an ongoing project, an example of internal colonies being attacked. And historically, like in Haiti, when the subjugated through struggle take back their air, their land, their food, and their homes, and reject the heinous labels thrown onto them for labels of their own, such as human, such as liberator, revolutionary, or ally, that is when we see things change. But that's just descriptive. And I don't deal with dogmatic prophecies, but I can't help but ask the historical question to everyone here. What is it going to be? >> Thank you very much. Make sure to sign up. >> Hey, Lambback. >> Welcome up. >> And reparation. [cheering] >> Welcome. >> Landback and reparation. >> My name is Nick Sterry and I live in the Frogtown area. Good afternoon, members of the city council and everyone here today. I stand before you as someone who has lived this life. I know that what addiction feels like and looks like. I know what homelessness feels like. I know what it feels like to be to believe that no one sees you anymore. Today, I also stand before you as someone who spends nearly every day down at these encampments, not to judge people, but to build relationships with them. Over the past several months, I have helped connect many individuals into detox treatment and program and recovery programs and other services. That success didn't happen be because I forced anyone into recovery. It happened because I trust was built first. That trust takes time. Understand the concerns about the encampments. I've seen the fires. I've seen the overdoses. I've seen the violence. I watch people struggling and with severe mental illness and addiction. No one is saying these conditions are acceptable, but closing the encampments without housing, treatment beds, or long-term support doesn't estimate those problems. It changes where they happen. My concern is that people will scatter throughout the city. Outreach workers will lose contact with many of them. Relationships that took months to build may disappear overnight. Some people will become even harder to reach. Some may overdose alone. Um, that is what keeps many of us, many of us awake at night. I'm not here to just point the finger or point the problems at people. I'm asking to us to work together. Imagine a coordinated six-mon stabil stabilization effort before displacement. Wraparound services on site. Medical professionals. Mental health ser um health support available regularly. Peer recovery specialist building relationships every day. Housing navigator navigators helping people obtain identification benefits and housing um applications. Law enforcement to focus on reducing violence and drug trafficking while working alongside outreach groups not against them. Daily transportation to detox treatment shelters. Please make sure to sign in. Welcome up. [applause] >> Welcome up. I just want to encourage folks to maybe scoot a little bit closer to the gold columns so we can make more room for folks who are in line. And um if you aren't yet in line, it would be great to just get a sense of how many more folks we have to speak. We have about um 50 minutes left. Welcome up. Uh my name is Timothy Roderick. Uh most me as we go, but uh I I just came up here to say a couple things. If y'all shut down camp, where the people going to go? They going to go back to the side of the road when y'all pull up on the side. You know what I'm saying? Get off the e-way. You going to see all these tents line up again? I know y'all don't want that. You know what I'm saying? And uh uh what? Everybody going to go what? Back to jail >> cuz that's the first thing that's going to happen. You saying if y'all shut the camp down, they go back through the day and back to the streets. You saying? Oh, you see where they originally came from. Then they going to go right back to jail. I just I just got my my war squash. I'm I'm trying to get housing, get my kids back, my wife over there. I got a dog. You see that that that I'm down at the pig pigs out camping. Like there's a lot of stuff that that needs adjustments over there. A lot of help. Uh uh I just I just we just lost a good friend ours named Mister. Uh he followed him underneath the uh some trail underneath the uh bridge or something like that. Over by uh the holiday over by uh yeah Bruce Vtos or whatever. Yeah. Like he was a good friend. I used I used to play football with him. You know what I'm saying? Like like I can't even talk about it. But like if y'all take this saying that's what you gonna get is mister, you know what I'm saying? With the rest of these people, you feel me? Like so they need they need your help. They need guidance. I'm saying they need structure. You know what I'm saying? They need encouragement. You know what I'm saying? They need strength. You need to help love Kirk. You mean like God look down on you? Y'all want to be homeless? Can I take my shoe off and give it to you? So that you give you saying you won't even last in my shoes. I promise you you won't. You saying not last in my shoes. First time you put your foot in my shoes, you will fumble. Boom. Boom. Cuz you ain't going to be able to hold that weight. I guarantee you won't. So I just I just I just say you saying like rethink what y'all trying to do because it's it ain't do no good. I'm saying it's just doing bad. I'm saying to us mean like we need housing saying we going to need people looking down on us, disgracing us, you know what I'm saying? Judging us saying, hey, look, uh uh uh uh this can happen to y'all too. Tomorrow can come and you can lose your [ __ ] and be homeless just >> Thank you very much. Thank you. Welcome. Welcome up. [applause] [clears throat] >> How you doing? Uh they call me Wolf. I am the facilitator at uh Pig's Eye Campment. I've been living in that area since 2012 in those woods by myself until 2016 when somebody decided to burn my [ __ ] down. So I went to the shelters. Now I came from in prison uh in 2012 and all I wanted was freedom. [clears throat] I had no place to go and didn't speak to family. So the next best thing is to just isolate myself and you know survive. And that's the one thing that people have to understand that are not like us is that we are survivors. >> We survived the harshest of weathers. We have survived the harshest conditions. And unfortunately, we have survived each other. And one thing about these encampments that you guys fail to realize is that it gives us an opportunity to feel safe. gives us an opportunity to move to the next step which is housing or anything of it. To tear down these encampments is is like saying that we don't care what happens to you. We don't care if you get murdered, raped. I have lost many friends out here who I consider family more than my own. And as dysfunctional as we are, we are family. And this encampments are are unique because I and I ran three of them. So I know they are unique >> because it gives us an opportunity to feel safe, feel that we could associate with others like ourselves. >> The the it's to me it upset me when I read the news about >> Thank you. Report. >> I'm so sorry I wasn't I got absorbed in your story. That is time. Please make sure to sign in. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Welcome. >> Ready. Hello, council. My name is Scout. I work and do mutual aid in St. Paul. I also help run we are Zen, which is a magazine of art and writing from residents at the Pigs Eye Encampment. We are We Are has been doing mutual aid and creative art with residents of the encampment for a year. We visit weekly. We've cultivated very close friendships with many of the community members. Yesterday, we took a survey asking for their thoughts and concerns around the eviction as we would like to share the perspective of those who could not attend the meeting today but want their voices to be heard. The mayor's office has said that the that living at the park is not safe or dignified and that the residents should go to shelters or group resident housing. But we all know between the wait list for availability and trying to get access to required documents, these processes take months and years, not three weeks. The city is creating an arbitrary deadline and leaving residents and resource providers scrambling. Those that have actually experienced living at the encampment and the shelters have experienced the living conditions that the shelters have expressed the living conditions at the shelters they've been to are not livable or sanitary. They've said there was quote a lot of drugs, that it is quote difficult to avoid violence, and that it felt quote more like a prison. They've cited an infantilizing 8:30 p.m. curfew for grown adults and being in constant fear of getting kicked out of their housing for any misstep or any inadvertent rulebreaking, especially for many individuals who don't speak English and aren't given adequate access to translators. For years, unhoused people in the Twin Cities have been displaced and told to move to this specific encampment. Residents expressed frustration at the decision to send people here and then kick them out from where they were sent. The city pushed hundreds hundreds of people to the camp and now they want to push them out all at once. The residents express this will flood already scarce shelter availability saying h quote hundreds of people have nowhere to go and that this will cause quote total chaos along with more arrests and overdoses. The residents have largely said this decision will kill people. If any of you have the opportunity, I would suggest you have a conversation with two of the other gentlemen who just were here. They're two of the greatest people we know and They have incredible stories to tell you. >> Thank you. Make sure to sign in. [applause] >> Welcome. >> Hi, my name is Aaron. I live in Ward 5 of St. Paul. I'm also a founding member of We Are Zen. And I wanted to continue off some of the points uh Scott made from the survey we took at Pigsai. Uh, one resident said they feel Minnesota is quote setting the field to make being homeless illegal and have has been targeting myself and other unhoused individuals, stalking and charging us with minor and major infractions to further displace us from getting adequate employment and housing. Another resident said that they believe that the point of this decision is to disappear unhoused people to incarceration, abduction by ICE, or death. One of the reasons the city has given for the encountment closure is drug use and overdose. The residents believe the evictions would make these issues worse, which is backed up by numerous studies saying that at the camp they are able to look out for each other, have a higher likelihood of having Narcan around and somebody able to administer it using alone kills. The city says encampments are unsafe. Professionals say encampment sweeps are deadly. The residents of Pigsai say, quote, "We have a community and neighbors working together to thrive." Quote, "We look out for each other." Quote, "It's all love throughout here." Quote, "We have people that take a lap every night checking in, making sure everyone is safe." Quote, "People actually have a heart and listen to us and care about all of us here. If you go through with these evictions, you will be targeting the most vulnerable population of the city and taking them away from one of the most essential parts of life, community. >> Thank you. >> Welcome up. >> Hi, my name is Nen and I live in Ward 4 of St. Paul. I am an instructor at the University of Minnesota. I do not and would not speak for the university. Um I am the founding editor of we are Zen and to conclude our discussion of the survey results. When asked what they would like the city to do instead of the current plan, the residents said delegate one of the many empty residential or business buildings to provide adequate shelter and personal hygiene capabilities. Quote, "Give more time at the least. A three-week notice just isn't enough time. Hotel vouchers until quote GR is available." They have said that the encampment is willing to work with the city to accomplish the changes they want to see, but to blindside them with a short notice eviction is dehumanizing. They suggested using >> they've suggested using the exorbitant funds required to destroy the camp to instead install heating, running water, mini houses, handwashing stations, or more acceptable restrooms. One resident says the city should quote, "Use city council pay raise for the homeless instead. When asked when asked what they would like to say to the mayor and the city government, residents stated, quote, "Why would you pat yourself on the back and ask for a pay raise at this time? Shame." Quote, "You caused the problem and you are still the problem." And quote, "Please don't force us to leave." I have here for each council member a summary of the survey results, some scanned copies of selected surveys, and copies of the Zen. the first issue that came out in October of 2025 and the second issue that came out in the May of this year. Uh these zenes contain the artwork, writing and lived experience of these talented, intelligent, caring, beautiful artists. I will end by sharing quotes that I believe you all should hear. We are not animals and we deserve to get treated like human beings. I don't know what we're going to do. A lot of us don't have family to help us. We are struggling, but we live together. Let us live. No evictions on stolen land. Please don't take away our homes. Thank you very much. [applause] [applause] >> Welcome up. >> Hi. Um, I will be speaking on behalf of two people residing at Fish Hatchery who are unable to come today but left me with their words. The first person is Styles. This is an actual community of individuals faced with daily struggles. The adversity we deal with is already stressful enough. Now we have to struggle with being displaced. For my fourth separate time since May 2023, removed from our homes, we built with our bare hands and now have to watch it all be destroyed by the city. While I know that it doesn't apply to every city worker and or law enforcement official that comes to our community to do their weekly visit in quotations, it doesn't however it does however apply to the ones who display displayed some sort of personal prejudice. I've witnessed tents be bulldozed for no reason, leaving it, in my eyes, unjustifies, unjustified. They bulldozed one of my tents during the winter with eight full propane tanks in it. When can we be looked at as a community of individual human beings instead of homeless people? That was by Styles. The second one, um, this person will remain unnamed for this meeting. Um, I just want to know what are y'all's plans after August 5th? Where's everyone going to be placed? And what is it going to change for the homeless across the city? Because when we get put out, it's going to be the same if we are here or not here. We just want a plan after August 5th because it's not that many housing for everybody. Please come up with a plan for the homeless. >> Thank you very much. Make sure to sign in. Welcome. >> Welcome. >> Thank you for your time. My name is Mac from War One. uh you guys are elected officials and you got a really tough job on your hands. Uh very sensitive topic in front of you. I think we know two realities to be true. One is we know the encampments getting shut down. It happens every year, every few years. It just moves along like they continue to talk about. I think the bigger question is then what? I love my city. I couldn't see myself living in any other city but St. Paul because I think we're a forwardthinking city. And with that being said, what are the solutions? What are the alternatives? Like what are the conversations that are being had? And maybe they're being had outside of public eyes and you guys do have a plan behind the scenes. But one thought is Totem Town. There's a huge lot. There's a facility there. You could have wraparound services, have ability to be able to pull up a truck for people to wash your clothes if they can't wash them inside. There's parking decks that are unused that we could use the house and have a safe place because as the encampment sits now, you know, from the outside looking in, I'm a first responder. For some places, it can be extremely unsafe. It's predator and prey, but more importantly, it's a community for a lot of people. It's a situation we couldn't imagine living in, but they're making it work. And I think the other biggest reality is encampments are immediate needs for right now. There's no other solution for immediate as of right now. And I think if we could create some kind of environment or ecosystem that is a city ran potentially encampment, I don't know if there's any other in the country. Maybe we're the first. >> Maybe we start something amazing. >> But the idea that they go from one place to the next, like my brother said over here, they could be in our backyard. They could be in our neighbor's backyard. They could be in your backyard. or more importantly, like you said, in your front door >> because they're moved with now they have frustration and anger >> as opposed to empathy. >> Um, and it it's a tough conversation. It's a very very tough conversation. You guys elected to handle that decision. >> Thank you. Make sure to sign in. Appreciate it. Welcome up. >> Hello. My name is Lucid and I come from the west side Ward 2. I am also the housing justice program manager at East Side Freedom Library. With the name Lucid, allow me to make some things very clear. Encampment sweeps are the opposite of housing justice. They are active cruelty. Housing justice is many things, but ultimately it is about respect and dignity and finding solutions that center those concepts. As a Unitarian Universalist, I believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person and sweeps spit in the face of that very notion. This decision is arrogant and cruel. I want to make clear that if our neighbors could be housed in less than a month, the residents AND ORGANIZERS HERE WOULD HAVE ALREADY DONE IT. THE timeline given is impossible to complete humanely. Any argument that services and resources will be provided and all residents housed is simply a lie. I have had the privilege of never worrying where I would sleep at night. And I am strongly aware that it is not BECAUSE I AM BETTER than anyone but because of luck. I think anyone who supports these sweeps have not contended with that truth. >> I will not stand by as my neighbors are punished for their luck. I will stand on the side of human dignity. As Unitarians say, emboldened by faith, we dare to proclaim we are standing on the side of love. And to those who stand with me, SOLIDARITY. >> SOLIDARITY. >> THANK you very [applause and cheering] much. Welcome up. Welcome uh Nikki Indigenas Makuda Unam Ai Gang and Dunjaba. So I'm Nikki and I am boys for inab um I'm I also lead and run a native foundation. I'm not here representing that foundation. I also um am an active member of the Metro urb Metro urban Indian directors which covers over 30 nonprofits in Minneapolis and St. Paul um also not here on their behalf but what I'm saying and I have been a student of public policy University of Chicago have lived and worked in other cities that have had coordinated response and one thing I just want to name is I run a community foundation technically I I should just be living in philanthropy right but what I do with my free time and there's others here who have spoken and I also am a child of God and I love creator and I do his work whether it's in my job title or not. So, that's an invitation. I spend my free time in camps with faith-based efforts in these other cities in just recently been to pigs a couple of times. Um, and what I want to caution is being from the other side of the river. I was on the other side three years ago thinking right with camps with Nan & Kazi this isn't healthy hearing all the concerns from our elders from our other community members but in reality what I learned and what we learned through years of those three years of lived experiences it is not better now right and so now I'm really good friends with Nicole who used to run that encampment and who did it very humanely and cleanly so I'm not saying that and she's not saying that encampments are the solution, but what we know is what is happening isn't working. Millions of dollars are circling the drain in Minneapolis. You don't want to see that happen here with these sweeps. So, we I really just want to bring up is it is a situation bad enough yet, right, that we could think radically different. I spend my free time with individuals to understand lots of addiction in my family, relatives in these spaces as well. But I mean unless you are you are losing things in translation from the people that are communicating up, you need to be out there and not with camera. Welcome up. >> Thank you. [applause and cheering] >> Welcome. >> Hey, what's up? Uh can you hear me? I'm Sam Wagner. I am a worker at Catholic Charities. Uh I do not represent them today, but I've been in this field for around 10 years and like I got a lot of points. Uh you know, housing is cheaper than emergency services. How many ambulance rides do you think our people get? How much cheaper would it be if they just were able to have a house to go to to go to the doctor? Like that's where our taxpayers are going. Um, if it really is about drugs and the people that use them, first take a look at yourself. You probably all use drugs in some degree. Maybe it's alcohol, maybe it's cannabis. That being said, if it is about the sight of drug users, if it is about drug user health to prevent people from overdosing, why are we not investing in safe consumption sites where people can go and use their drugs, use their drugs safely, test their drugs, and we can bring them back if they have a [ __ ] OVERDOSE. THAT BEING SAID, I have [applause] a couple of more points. Look at our population who's homeless. We're seeing different demographics. We're seeing elders more than ever. And let me tell you, the option that they're going to go to shelter is not the answer. Not everybody is going to shelter. There are reasons. I bet you a lot of people over there have restrictions at shelter. I bet you a lot of those people have bad information like have had bad experiences or traumatized or maybe just the fact of staying inside sucks and they feel constricted. What would you do if this was your family? Like what would you do if your mom or dad or brother or sister were down in that encampment? Because the way the world's going, one of your kids probably is going to go the way with the ways we don't. And what I'll say is this. You also got to look at the workers. We have you like ask the experts. Ask the people in the camp. I could point to you multiple people in this community who do direct service work who have the answers and have done this for years. We like throwing people out. >> Thank you. >> It's just not going to work. >> Thank you. Make sure to sign in. >> Welcome up. [applause and cheering] >> Hey, I just want to do a quick time check. As I mentioned at the beginning, we do need to end the meeting at 6:30 because council members need to leave. So, I want to make sure as I'm looking around, I'm not sure if we're going to get through everyone at 6:30. We will recess and we will reconvene at another time to hear from those we haven't heard from tonight. But I do want to ask if you're in line and you are a resident of an encampment um followed by a resident of St. Paul. If we could prioritize those folks to speak tonight, I would really appreciate them being able to come to the front. Welcome up, >> uh council members, Cedric Baker, uh you know, office of the mayor. Uh my name is Linda. I reside in Ward One. Um and I know you're looking really tired and you want to go home. I get it. But we had to listen to uh your office blow about things that you don't know anything about. So you have to listen to us now. I just want to call out how brave it is for our unhoused neighbors and residents to come here into this room and speak. [cheering] [applause] And I want to say why I over I talked to one of my friends at the uh encampment um down at Shepard and she said she overheard an SPD officer laugh when they found a dead man in his tent frozen saying he turned into a popsicle. I've also seen videos of skid steers uh smooshing wheelchairs that were being used by uh disabled residents. Um I've heard folks or I've seen videos of these so-called uh you know outreach workers from the county from the city come to the site with Mayor her with cameras standing at the front of the camp and just kind of doawling around not handing out any resources or talking to a single resident. There's literally so much that they have to go through and they've been told over and over by the city, "We don't actually care about you with your actions." You may use nice words. You may say, "Oh, this is dignity. This is empathy." But it is not dignity. It is not empathy. Okay? What is dignity? Empathy is listening to these folks that took the time out of their evenings of struggle and survival to come here and tell you to your face, we are dying and we need help and you're trying to kill us with these sweeps. Sweeps are not the the uh answer. As people have cited study after study by actual health in like uh institutions, we see that overdoses go up and people die. And so if you want people to die, go ahead with the sweets. But stop pissing on us and saying it's rain. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. [applause] >> Welcome up. Um, before I say my name, I want you to picture a person sitting in a tent tonight. A mother who escaped violence. A person in recovery fighting for a second chance. A veteran who served our country. A child who deserves a safe place to sleep. We don't choose this life. We are people who have been dealt difficult cards in hard situations. Have you as elected officials ever walked into these shelters? Do you know that there are about 40 people sleeping in CS head to feet? This is not the way of our democracy. We need to make a change and we need to put our people before our systems and we need not to push people who have embedded their lives. a camp uh a tent is maybe something that they only have and we take it away and we're sweeping them and then we get rid of our sober housing. Have anyone ever experienced addiction? Housing is number one. People, places, and things is what is taught. And addiction should be seen as an illness. It is not something that is trying to destroy our economy or our world. And so we need the $40 million that was just invested for rental assistance to be invested in those people in those encampments. And if they only got 30 days, then we should have three days to make sure they have somewhere to go because we have the money to do it. We are not [applause] broke and we will not be silenced. And I've actually lost family to this type of situation and we can't keep bullying our people. We have to stand with them. It doesn't matter about money and power systems or project. We have to stand with the people and that's all I want you all to know. Freedom is now and you cannot kick us out and we will not be silent. SO BEFORE WE FLOOD the encampments on August 5th, please stand with us. And I am Natasha Bennett running for state senate in this district. We need >> welcome up. Welcome. >> I just wanted to say that addiction, mental health. >> Sorry. Can you start with your name and where you're coming from? Thank you. >> Addiction, mental health, etc. is that of spiritual, it's a spiritual nature. Love conquers all. Our world is clearly at a point of transformation. And I believe it's of spiritual nature. The Minnesota, the land of 10,000 treatment centers where broken spirits come to heal and they stay. And there's a land with many natives that have been here and know a lot about our land. You won't break us. They can't break us as they seen like the country has seen. And I think we can do something very different as a state starting with stuff like this choosing to help each other versus choosing money. Um, but you if if worse comes to worse, pe the system breaks and we stop paying our taxes and put it to the money put the money to where we believe it should go if that's what we have to do. [applause] >> Thank you very much. [applause] >> Uh, Casper Voys, Miriam Park. Um, and I am an assistant professor of public health, but I do not speak on behalf of my institution and just as a resident of St. Paul and a and a human here today. Um, and I want to first echo the comments that people have made about the community in the encampments and how that can allow for support and help from within and from without and and um want to echo many of the of the comments that were said today. Um, and to the stated interests of public health to reduce injury, illness, and death in the encampments that have been stated by uh the the mayor's office. Public health solutions must meet the complex and wicked problems that our society creates. Homelessness is not random and it is the result of humanmade conditions and inequities. A sweep might look like a quick fix, but public health's real solution is going further upstream to prevent an encampment from being the only option that a person has to live in the city of St. Paul. In addition to the lack of thorough and transparent plans to support those currently living unsheltered, I urge the mayor and the council to thoughtfully integrate prevention into their stated agenda. Uh, in 2020, the US government accounting office found that when controlling for other factors, a $100 increase in the median rent of an area was associated with about a 9% increase in the rate of homelessness. Without adequately addressing the affordable housing crisis in our city and in many other places, sweeping the encampments drains city funds and inflicts harm on residents. Researchers in LA have also demonstrated that temporary housing strategies are largely unsuccessful in the long term because many people return to being unsheltered soon after. If the city does not move even further upstream to prevent the next generations from becoming unhoused, a future council sitting here will be asked to conduct another sweep or will be asking to conduct another sweep. As of 2025, 5% of St. Paul public school students answering the Minnesota student survey had reported homelessness in the last year. 15% of the survey respondents reported two or more adverse childhood experiences which do increase a likelihood of homelessness in the future. Um so please uh the >> Thank you very much. >> Yep. [laughter] >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Make sure to sign up. Welcome up. [applause] >> Welcome. >> Hello. I'm Amanda. Um, I have been homeless according to the state of Minnesota since uh July of last year. Um, but I moved into a HUD project that didn't have reliable heat, didn't re have reliable um, air conditioning, didn't have reliable appliances, and I moved in there because I could no longer live with my mother who was suffering dementia and was becoming violent toward me and my dad. I have lived in a shelter since January. I have been kicked out three times for different reasons. Two of which was bug infestation. This last time I was kicked out because I had a t-shirt and shorts PJ outfit. one that you buy from Target actually because it was supposedly inappropriate clothing for a shelter. >> But we do not have at the shelter where I go any clothing except socks and underwear sometimes if it's available. We sometimes get a sack lunch when we leave the door. It's only supposed to be a sleep place. Just a place to sleep. For me, that is almost as what I was living in at my HUD HUD apartment because that's basically all I could do except I had my service animals before I went into the ER in December. I know that HUD, the HUD program did not work. There was fraud. There was payments that I saw under the table in my own apartment. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. Please sign in. Welcome. Welcome up. [applause] >> I'm Valerie Jarvis from Ward 4. And since we can't all get to speak today, can people raise their hands if they're not in support of the encampment sweep? That's the majority of people here. Not in support. Yeah, you don't want the sweep to happen. Yes. Thank you. Yeah. Anyway, this proves my point that why should we listen to the people who won't come here to stand behind their opinions? If they're not here to speak their mind and they want this to happen, they should be here and talk about it. We're all here today and we're going out of our way and taking time out of our day. They should have to, too. A lot of us voted for mayor her and probably some of us in this room also didn't because we thought that she was going to be more progressive, different, right? But this is more of the same and this is regressive. And in this time, we need strong leadership and community more than ever because we have a target on our backs at the federal level. We have to protect our community as best as we can and that includes all of our unhoused neighbors because if they come for the weakest of us, they'll come for all of us eventually. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much, Miss Welcome up. [applause] >> Welcome up. >> Sorry, I'm a little nervous. >> No. >> Uh, my name is Julia Schaefer. >> Um, I work as a paramedic. >> All right. I'm a drug addict and um experienced homelessness um a few times. I the last time was last February. Uh I was at the encampment. Um and I was welcomed there with open arms. Um I feel like if I didn't run into those people, um I don't know where I would be today. Um I met some really amazing people. um I wouldn't have ran into my friend Kelsey. Um and I ended up getting into treatment and I'm in a silver house now. Um >> so I mean yes I understand the the safety concerns and stuff but I believe as a addict the most the best thing you can do is have community and taking that away from people is going to cause deaths. I overdosed twice there and if I wasn't around people I'd probably not be here. So that's what I have to say. [applause] >> Welcome. >> Uh Steve Tuckner, Ward Five. Um I've been hearing from all the speakers today about the insanity of this plan. Why would the mayor do something so stupid and so cruel? >> It's the same reason that Mayor Fry evicts every encampment in Minneapolis shortly after it's found. Mayor Fry is brought by the city is bought by the city's landlords and I suspect that Mayor Her is as well. Landlords love nothing more than their renters looking at homeless people desperate for shelter. Those renters will think twice about complaining about their shitty apartments or try to organize with their neighbors. >> Just like employers love precarious workers, landlords love precarious renters. >> Thank you very much. Make sure to sign in. Welcome up. >> Hello. Uh my name is Corey Cole and I am a public health scientist and violence prevention worker. However, I am speaking here today only in my capacity as a ward 7 resident. The um people living in the fish hatchery encamp and are my neighbors. Um, I appreciate and echo the words of everyone who has come up here and cited the consistent and clear public health literature saying that there will be lives on city officials hands if this plan goes through. To to pretend otherwise betrays a disdain for the facts that is disqualifying of a city official or a belief that people who live in encampments are not human, also disqualifying for a city official. However, this overdose spike is only one of the things that will happen if this plan goes through. The uh press release and FAQ website from the city paint a very friendly picture of how an encampment eviction looks. They says, "Oh, uh, everyone will get to keep their belongings. Everyone will get connected in housing. All serious people know that this is not the case." Um, all of us have seen evictions take place in Minneapolis, in St. Paul, and across the country. We know that this will result in people having their belongings taken, their medications taken, their supportive devices destroyed, many of whom have disabilities, substance use disorders, and physical and mental health conditions that make them extremely dependent on stability and kindness of others for survival. Um, let me see. severing people from the mutual aid organizations and communities that have done more for them than the bleeding and um emaciated safety net that this city has will only serve to um will only serve cruelty and death. Um, even though the city people may have their best intentions and may be talking about this in a way that is very um, enticing to the public, there is no humane way to remove people from their homes via force. There is no polite way. There is no dignified way. >> Thank you very much. Make sure to sign in. Welcome up. [applause] >> Welcome. >> Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Sam Robertson. My pronouns are they them. And I work for Women's Advocates, a domestic violence shelter in St. Paul as our domestic violence priority list manager for Ramsey COC. Um, while this is a comparatively new role to to this COC, um, I've also touched the coordinated entry system as an assessor for almost 10 years. So, this is a system I know, I'm familiar with. Um, but I also want to be clear that as I move forward here today, my statements um do not reflect the opinions of Ramsey County, the housing stability department or women's advocates. So, as some people mentioned earlier, there's a meet a weekly meeting on Wednesday mornings for sheltered and unsheltered service providers. And I was at that meeting on July 8th when the assistant mayor Baker joined and shared the upcoming entment plan closures and the approach the city would be taking. We were told that the approach would be one persistent helpfulness, two using the coordinated entry system, and three working to expand shelter capacity. And I want to look you all in the eyes as I say this. That is not a plan. That is an approach. Right? And there are so many easily identifiable gaps in the first and three approaches that I just listed. But the one that I really want to specifically talk about is the second leaning on coordinated entry. If you talk to anyone that's done coordinated entry, that's been an assessor, that's been a priority list manager, um, or you take the time to sit in on an assessment, one of the very first things you'll hear them say and that you'll hear me say is that coordinated entry is not quick, right? It's not a guarantee. Coordinated entry is a tool. It is a tool. It's not the beall end all and should never be somebody's plan A. This isn't a surprise. There's a lot of people that know this before I talk with them when I'm doing an assessment. But yet, the city is still choosing to lean on that as a plan. >> Thank you very much. Please make sure to sign in. Welcome up. [applause] >> Thank you. uh Tom Diamond uh lifelong resident of St. Paul uh more than one thing can be true and I think in this case what there's been testimony of there's a lot of truth in that but there's also truth in that the city has played a role in causing this problem and what I'm and I'm not saying that to be accusatory but just it's a fact is that uh what we need is a way out of this for the people training uh uh uh addiction uh efforts. What I'd like to say about it is that already the city's regulations, you in the park, you cannot be in the parks between 11 at night and uh dawn. You cannot have possession of alcohol. You cannot have ex uh possession of weapons. You cannot have possession of uh drugs. You uh uh cannot be in possession of weapons or threatening. If those are all true and the city's enforcement, if the city would enforce it, that would be a big step in the right direction. But instead what we are having is needles being handed out, supplies being provided. And what has happened is is there's been a significant increase in crime. Let alone this is a park and the park visitors have been harassed, intimidated, threatened. Those two things don't go to well together. there only a matter of time until somebody gets seriously hurt or there's a real problem that we're all going to uh so getting help to those who are there uh today and getting uh the rules and the conditions of >> Thank you very much. Please make sure to sign in. Welcome up. >> My name is Cal. Um, and I've done a variety of outreach jobs in this St. Paul and in Minneapolis. And the first thing I'd like to do is second what Sam said. I also am a Ramsey County assessor. And the first thing I tell people is if you need housing, you should get an assessment. And also, you'll be really lucky if you hear anything within three, four months. Don't make this your first plan. So leaning into assessments in less than a month is ridiculous. >> Um, and then I wanted to second what Nikki said. Things are not better in Minneapolis after the sweeps. >> When I was working in Minneapolis, I had a relationship. I'm think there was a bunch of people that we lost, but specifically I had one youth that I had taken months to get to talk to me. >> And after the sweep at Near North, I couldn't find her for three months. When I found her again, she was in another camp and they had the same neighbors because these are communities and people look out for each other. And when that camp was slept, I lost her for a month. And when then when we found her again, she had the same neighbors because these are communities and people look out for each other. And then when I lost her again, I didn't find her. So that's it. >> Well, second in advance, whatever Senica says. >> Thank you very much. Make sure to sign in. Welcome up. >> My time is running out. I get more than 53 seconds, right? >> Can we reset the timer, [laughter] please? There we go. >> Okay. Hi, my name is Senica Krueger. Um, I am a longtime resident of St. Paul. I actually bought the house that I grew up in. So, I have lived in your ward, Molly, Ward 4, for 35 years. Um, I am also a street outreach worker and I spend much of my time in, um, working on the streets in the, um, Snelling University Avenue corridor. I am also a therapist and I work in addiction medicine right now. Currently, I also sit on the Ramsey County steering committee, right? The heading home Ramsey steering committee. Johnson is the um is the vice chair of the governing board there. Um on that steering committee, I chair the youth advocacy workg group and this call that Sam talked about, the provider call was the first time I heard about this plan. Right. I sit on the board on Ramsey County that is supposed to oversee things like this and I did not hear about this plan until then. I have real concerns. >> Yeah. I also last week had a meeting with my partners. I work on both sides of the river. My partners with Henipin County COC and Minneapolis providers. They said, "What's going on in St. Paul?" I told them. I said, "Are you going to come and help?" They said nobody has asked as asked us. >> Nobody has asked us. >> Yeah. >> I have real concerns about what we are talking about when we're talking about a collaborative effort and partnership because I have not seen that in my experience. Not with my work in Minneapolis and not with my work on the steering committee. Assistant Mayor Baker, I heard you earlier say we want to look at creative solutions. I am so in so in for creative solutions. Those come before we do camp closures. This is putting This is putting the cart before the horse. I just want to stress that to you. >> Thank you very much. Make sure to sign in. [cheering] Welcome up. [applause] I think we're going to have I think we're going to have time for about three more speakers. I am sorry to have to end at 6:30, but we'll get as many as we can in. Welcome up. >> Hi, my name is Julian Schoffler. Um, I've lived and worked in ws three and four. Um, I want to share a particular story. Um, this winter a friend I know told me that someone we both knew in the camps had had a miscarriage and brought this information to me because she knew that I had the numbers of three midwives in the neighborhood. And we were able to provide this person in the in the camp midwife care within hours of suspecting she had a miscarriage. We provided pads and also companionship and laughter. Um, as well as confirmation that she had not lost the pregnancy and we offered to follow-up care with her in a few weeks. Um, she told us that if she hadn't gotten this information that she still had the pregnancy, she would have started using again and she'd been staying sober because of the baby. Um, this care was timely, it was friendly, it was in a private place and it was on her own terms without requirements or expectations. um she could not go to a hospital at the time because largely because of the fear that the city would interfere with her shelter and her belongings while she was getting medical care. How will the city provide care of this quality? And if the city can't do it, how are neighbors going to provide this care when the trusted relationship is destroyed and we can't find each other? >> I also want to point out that unhoused youth are disproportionately um LGBTQ plus. And when you have a plan, you need to guarantee that trans folks will be respected in housing and in healthcare. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. [applause and cheering] Welcome up. Welcome up. [applause] Thank you, members of the city council. Um my name is Lily Edgars. I'm a Ward One resident. Um I will not pretend to speak to encampment residents experiences. I'm not the mayoral office. Um, but what I will say, what I will ask directly is after hearing all of this testimony, who among you by a show of hands right now stop wants to stop the mayor's sweeps? >> This is not a Q&A for us, so please testify. But >> no hand raised. [cheering] >> I will continue talking and I will tell you about two worlds. >> I will tell you about two worlds. Two worlds that diverge right after this session ends. There is a world where you all leave, put on the agenda as soon as possible a moratorum for the mayor's office's disastrous plan. [cheering and applause] Work with the county, who I'm happy to pressure in this same way. I get that y'all are in a bad position with funding. Work with the county to pursue innovative strategies like Avivo's tiny homes, right? Pursue these grants, right? We will continue to fight for the dignity and justice of our unhoused neighbors and those who support us. I will remember that till the day I die. The other world, the other world is where you all take a recess, maybe do another opportunity for us to vent, to get our public comments out there, and then do nothing to publicly oppose or stop the mayor's sweeps. >> People will die. My friends and neighbors will die. I will lose contact with many of them. But you know what? This is not flash in the pan right here. All of us, we will continue to fight for the dignity and justice of all of us, including our unhoused neighbors, and for those who continue to support or do not speak out against the mayor's sweeps. I will remember that until the day that I die at the ballot box, in how I deal with the city, in how I remember each and every one of you. I will remember that forever. And I'm not the only one. Thank you. >> THANK YOU VERY MUCH. >> [applause] >> ALL RIGHT, I THINK YOU'RE GOING TO BE OUR LAST SPEAKER, so welcome up. Thank you. >> I do not deserve to have the word last words here today. My name is Ben Ames. I'm a resident of Ward One. I've been a public defender here in St. Paul Ramsey County for several years. I speak on behalf of myself and not on anyone in my office. See a lot of familiar faces around here tonight. A lot of people that I have had the unfortunate pleasure of having to represent and protect their rights. people who I have represented for unfortunately committing the crime of having nowhere that they can legally be or being victims of having the only disease addiction that we decide to put people in cages for. It makes no sense that we are going to criminalize encampments here in this city. >> Tell you what faces I don't see here today. I do not see any prosecutors from the city attorney's office. I don't see any prosecutors from the Ramsey County prosecutor's office. I do not see any judges. And the only police that I see here are here for control and not care, compassion, are here to listen. [applause and cheering] The eth amendment of the constitution forbids cruel and unusual punishment. Unfortunately, this plan isn't unusual. other cities do it, but you cannot convince me that it's not cruel. >> Thank you. [cheering] [applause] >> Thank you all. [applause] [applause] >> [applause] >> Thank you all very much for coming out tonight. We appreciate the tree. The tree [screaming] the [cheering] [groaning and screaming] Thank you all very much. We would like we would like to say something in response to talk about our next step, >> but if we can't just >> Thank you all very much for coming out. We've really appreciated the courage that it took to be here tonight. We want to encourage people. We will have another meeting. We are recessing tonight, but we will have an opportunity for people who did not get to be heard tonight to come back. We also want to remind folks, especially if you spoke tonight, we appreciate people speaking only for two minutes. I know that was tough for a lot of folks. There was so much more to say. Please email us, meet with us, call us. There are other ways to reach us. We will let you know when we've scheduled the next opportunity. I asked my colleagues and we all decided that rather than cutting the public testimony short and speaking ourselves, the purpose of tonight was to hear from you. I know we would all have a lot to say, but you've given us a lot to think about and you've given us a lot of questions. So, thank you all very much. And we are now in recess. >> ACTION'S NOT NEEDED. >> TIME'S RUNNING OUT. WHEN IS THE NEXT HEARING?