1. Calling the Roll. The meeting was called to order by Mayor Euille, and the City Clerk called the roll; all the members of Council were present. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ 2. Public Discussion Period. (a) Kara Clemens, 524 North Royal Street, resident of Chatham Square and representing a group of Chatham Square residents, spoke about a very serious and urgent problem in their neighborhood. She said the Council has a duty to correct mismanagement of their tax dollars in the public housing sector/ARHA and the government needs to take immediate action to ensure ARHA becomes a more transparent and fiscally responsible organization and is able to get control of their tenants. She asked when the Memorandum of Understanding will take effect and why they haven't seen the City acting on it. Hopkins Tancil, which is adjacent to Chatham Square, is a complex and challenged community in many respects and despite a number of good and decent people living there, dysfunctional and criminal behavior abounds. She noted that this week alone they have dealt with gang of youths outside flashing gang signs while having their picture taken in front of Chatham Square, a woman who emerged brandishing a golf club as she chases several women down the street, a gentlemen who came outside screaming profanity at someone a block away, and a resident of Chatham Square who was opening the window inside her home on the second floor was verbally assaulted by a group of women that were trespassing on Chatham Square property. Chatham Square residents along North Royal have been specifically targeted and threatened by large groups of individuals who either live in or are visiting residents in Hopkins Tancil. She asked for Council's help, noting that they have met with the Police and call them daily to report attempted assaults, drug sales, child abuse, public drunkenness, open container violations, trespassing, vandalism, profanity, littering, blocking public access, loitering and prowling, threats and intimidation, torturing of animals and graffiti. She said they hold City Council responsible for ARHA and its tenants actions. She said they need to discontinue touting Chatham Square as an award winning community and jewel in the crown of Alexandria. She said they spoke to the consultants at the Braddock East Advisory Group, and they have testimonials that represent one-third of the residents at Chatham Square. She said it is their belief that the antiquated system of brick and mortar style public housing where poverty is concentrated and the underclass culture is a self perpetuating cycle and is not in line with the progressive nature of the City and Council should consider more contemporary philosophies in tackling the issue of public housing. She noted that they would like to meet with Council individually. (b) Gary Carr, 216 Aspen Street, spoke about the restoration of the running tracks at Frances Hammond and George Washington Middle Schools. He said among his justifications are community needs, childhood obesity, childhood type 2 diabetes, sedentary lifestyles, reduction of physical education during school hours, developing healthy habits, self esteem and many other justifications. He said that as a citizen and parent, he is comfortable in his knowledge that he did his part to promote the ideal that he believes in. He said the restoration of the running tracks will have a positive impact on every child and promote physical fitness in the community at large. He said he is aware of the new track facility at T.C. Williams High School, however, the one track does not fully address the needs of the children in the community. (c) Brian Buzzell, One Wilkes Street, president of the Homeowners Association at Harborside, said that six weeks ago, he sent Council an email about the situation about a very sorry looking Old Town Yacht Basin that was full of garbage, but he has not heard back from anyone at the City as to what type of action was taken. He asked what the status is of the master plan for Windmill Hill Park and that part of the City, because key to it was cleaning up the Old Town Yacht Basin, because they knew that once the former Mayor came in without telling the residents that live around there and took out the pilings that it would alter the ecosystem, and that ecosystem has been damaged and it needs to be fixed, and he asked what is the plan. (d) Charlotte Landis, 433 N. Patrick Street, spoke about the renovation of Hunter/Miller Park, and she thanked Council for its part in creating a refreshed atmosphere in the neighborhood and she also thanked Judy Lo and the Parks and Recreation staff. Ms. Landis addressed the Bland development and asked that 33 more units be off-sited, and she said studies confirm that public housing residents will be benefit. She said she attended the Economic Sustainability Implementation Monitoring Committee on September 4 and a project update presentation was given by Planning Director Hamer, and at the meeting, Nigel Morris stated in response to her plan, that if available land parcels around the Metro station were used for affordable housing, the City would be shooting themselves in the foot. The minutes of the ICCA July meeting contain a goal of a two to one ratio of market rate units to ARHA units. The goal has been abandoned and does not extend across the site and now EYA and staff have acknowledged a plan to buy down market rate units and resell them as affordable units. (e) Sarah Becker, 1200 Princess Street, said she wishes to address an alternative approach to the Bland Development proposal. She said she was struck by a comment that over concentration is not a word that will be used to explain the public housing debacles. The Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2000 stated that over several generations, many public housing authorities have established and perpetuated racially segregated practices, and HUD has been working to undo this legacy by settling lawsuits that have alleged a variety of civil rights violations. The best public housing solutions are unit based, fair share or scattered site programs, yet the resistance remains massive. She said they must off-site more public housing units before any plan can go forward. (f) Melvin Garbow, 19 Wilkes Street, secretary, Harborside Condominium Association, underscored Mr. Buzzell's remarks. They have a serious problem with the Old Town Yacht Basin, and hundreds of people visit their park everyday and they are entitled to a safe and attractive circumstance, which they don't have. He said the garbage floats in, but it never floats out. He said they will have physical problems with children and others if they don't attend to it promptly and he urged Council's attention. (g) Julie Crenshaw Van Fleet, 26 Wolfe Street, spoke about Board of Architectural Review's case this past week on the Lorien Hotel on upper King Street and the discussion was about the signage. She said she had a copy of the staff report that described the size of the signs and there was a little picture and it talked about large signs, so she was concerned that they were going to have the same problem as they did with Starbucks on Union and King when an eleven foot sign that the City was sued over and Starbucks won. Ms. Crenshaw Van Fleet said they did not say that the sign was appropriate, it was just the timing of when all of it was done was after the time allotted to appeal it. She said she was told her facts were wrong about the hotel. On August 8, an 11x17 color sign palate was given to the Planning Commission, and she couldn't figure out why she didn't know about it, but when she brought it up and said she wasn't protesting the signs, but rather the size, Mr. Smealie said he had enough information to make a decision. She asked the Planning staff for the file from the case and was shown an additional piece of paper. She said the BAR gets information that the public doesn't, so the public talks with the information it has, and if there had been a display, they could have seen it in context of the building. She suggested Council look at some of the tapes, as she knew that Old Town Civic Association and the historic organizations have said they don't get the information, and decisions are made and it isn't right. (h) Ingrid Sanden, 5238 Bessley Place, president of the Cameron Station Civic Association, spoke in support of their request for an independent inquiry into the actions and inactions of the City staff regarding the Norfolk Southern ethanol transloading facility. She said she and her neighbors believe the Council will agree that the ramifications of the staff’s reaction and inaction on this subject for the past 12 months and even before are very serious and far-reaching. Not only has this situation helped erode their confidence and trust in the City government, they were also left with no way to fight this facility before it was completed, and they were also left alone for more than two months, between April 9 and the end of June before the Alexandria Fire Department was finally equipped with the supplies they feel they needed to handle an event at the facility, and she asked what the City's plan would have been had there been an incident at the facility during that time period. She said there is a problem at City Hall. Whether it is a problem of incompetence, negligence, communications, misunderstanding, bad management, poor judgment, or some of all of these, she didn't know, but the point is that Council doesn't know either, and that is why they need an independent inquiry. The inquiry needs to be kept separate from the current City Manager directed organizational development effort that management consultants are doing at City Hall, and they have no interest in connecting the two because they are separate issues, for different purposes, under different chains of command. She said the reason this inquiry is so critical is because they are left with two goals: to close down or move Norfolk Southern to a more appropriate location and to keep their families, property and neighborhoods safe. She said they must have a City government that responds to citizen questions and concerns, one that should have been able to develop a realistic and aggressive strategy to deal with Norfolk Southern on many fronts, and one that is equipped to develop and carry out a realistic plan should the unthinkable happen. Ms. Sanden said residents understand that if this type of massive screw up could happen in Cameron Station, it could happen anywhere, anytime. She said their goal is not, as some have suggested, to have heads roll at City Hall - as those are conclusions Council would have to make. Their goal is to prevent this type of egregious lapse in judgment from ever happening again in Alexandria and get back to being able to trust and respect the City government. (i) Annabelle Fisher, 5001 Seminary Road, said she supports Cameron Station's request for an outside inquiry. She said she understood that sometimes the discussions need to be in executive session, however, drop the talking point about closing Norfolk Southern, as it's not going to happen. She said the information on the website about the Norfolk Southern site in Baltimore is incorrect. She said she believed it was important, since Council has decided to docket the item as a public item, that if they care about accountability about the residents and citizens, and have the facts come out without fingerpointing and blame, that the citizens should be allowed to speak so they don't have a circus and grandstanding going on with the Mayor and Council. She said she hoped they would allow citizens to engage in some civic discussion. She said there is no need for a charrette in this situation. She said if they want to gain the trust back of the citizens, that they stop the PR and let the public give input. She said they need accountability and trust.