Good evening everybody. Thanks for coming out. I appreciate it. I just do want a footnote Mr. Brown had an emergency come up and so he is unable to be here So I just wanted you to know he was scheduled to be with us But unfortunately he got pulled away at the last minute so With that I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Russell. I Think we had a video it'll come up shortly, but thank you all for being here for the district four mayors town hall tour Mayor had decided that instead of a riveting speech about the state of the city We would do a town hall tour where we get to participate and support him as he shares all of the different Projects and initiatives and work that has been underway over the last several Months and it's pretty crazy to think it's been almost two years And you'll hear how many wonderful things that we've been working on all across the city under many different buckets of Information that you'll receive today. So we'll start by Passing it over to my colleague Councilman Duvall Back in my home district of district four We we have moved down into district. What is now district two now was district three So but delighted to be with y'all tonight. I hope we have a lot of information that you'll enjoy hearing I get excited every time I see that video Because it really gives a good overview of how cool our city is and and how we should be telling everybody about it And as I I get to travel around and meet with people I i'm always talking about columbia and how We're not just a college town. We're this incredible community filled with So many interesting people and businesses and backgrounds and stories and we always argue that hey We we we need to have these conversations and we need to tell people who we are and how important it is that people are engaged In our community in a positive way because we're on our way to be the number one city in south carolina And we're doing it by working together And everybody's a piece an important piece of the puzzle We want people to be part of that and so when you think about that remember that piece of the puzzle What am I doing to be part of that piece of the puzzle? I do want to thank obviously My colleagues who are here for all the help and work We've been working together and what you'll hear is a theme more surrounded around We than I because we are doing things together We always don't agree on every point But what we try to do is do the best we can to improve And I would like all of the senior city staff that's here to stand up and like y'all to give them a hand Because without them we wouldn't be where we are today I think it's it's it's very important that is we're communicating and working and You know i'm in city hall on this every day And part of that is is that we're interacting and working together and communicating about what's important For our city and how we need to improve and how we want to invest With our our employees and making sure they have the tools and the talent and the technology to do their job To provide y'all the customer service. Are we there yet? We're getting there. Do we want to improve every day? Absolutely, and that's kind of one of the reasons why we're trying town halls is how can we have a little more Interaction at the level in neighborhoods with people directly We're going to continue to try this and see how it works and get more engagement But we're going to talk tonight a little bit about city-wide initiatives Right down, you know the updates and in your district towards the end But a lot of it is we tried to reach out ahead of time and get some questions in And but we do have cards here for you to ask questions afterwards so that we can get your written response because I know people have Very specific questions that they want answered. So we want to be able to do that And that's out back our city staff has it out there at the tent along with a lot of information When you came in you saw a scrolling There's like 150 things that we've been doing and going on everything from love your block to working on a homeless plan Investing in our police in our fire departments making sure every every city employee Is compensated correctly but also has the tools and the technology to actually do their job Part of that is is that we decided, you know, we took on mayor benjamin's theme of we are one columbia Every business every public service every neighborhood district law enforcement officer firefighter elected official government official school church and citizen are part of the city So we can't talk about one without the other everybody has a piece of that puzzle If we're not working together, then we're not advancing the ball So for us our our goal was how do we improve the quality of life for every citizen and every employee With the mindset that we're in the customer service business Our job is to take care of you and the customers And i'm excited about what we've done and where we've grown and where we're coming Um, I wake up every day excited about this job because columbia has so much to offer I just was in a glana at the us conference of mayors leadership meeting On public private partnerships and once again columbia is being mentioned over and over about the things that we're doing together The pilot programs that are coming out with instacart to work on food security The investment that we're looking to do in a hope center these partnerships are bringing people together But also bringing resources and notoriety quite frankly across the country people are recognizing that we're a capital city Sidebar why that's important to me is because when I was coming back from a meeting two weeks ago I'm in the airplane in the delta plane and i'm watching the sky tracker And guess what city's not listed on there august is on there charleston's on there charlotte's on there, but columbia's not so we spent the better part of the day the other day talking with Leadership at delta to get columbia put on that flight tracker We are the capital city of south carolina. We should be on that map with a star And I think it's important that we continue to to promote ourselves And push and people to get recognized what a great community we have Um, we can't do everything. I know people expect us to do everything, but we can't but we're we're We're gonna continue to to lead where we can unite the community advance new ideas And continue to listen to people and when we say that We adapted You know this theme of open columbia. It's open for business, but it's open for ideas. It's open for complaints We take those complaints as compliments because if you if you didn't tell us we'd never know when we can't improve And I think it's important that we we continue to work together And you know, I really you know, I have to thank the staff again Along with the leadership because everybody's working to make sure that that we're Doing things to improve our community But also taking care of some of these unfinished projects fendley park for one You know the vista greenway the ability that we had to work with dominion power now We have 200 more acres available on the riverfront. Why is that important? Because now we can expand a trail. We can take advantage of ecotourism every time i'm on that river I meet people who are from all over the country They've come here because they've heard about the river There's not many places in the southeast that have class 2 rapids Spanish moss and the settings that we have when you bring the sandy And the I mean the saluda and the broad into the conga re you have something a lot of people don't have We're geographically situated in a beautiful place because we have three major highways that connect us all over within hours We have 16 million. Okay 15.8 million visitors Fudged it to 16 because I want to get there coming here to visit our city But we're only getting five and a half million to spend the night We've got to create more opportunities and taking more reasons for people to stay here That means more restaurants. That means more hotel nights. That means people spending money in our retail stores Into our our other stores taking advantage of everything from soda city to our arts All of the things that make us who columbia is So I hope that tonight will give you a snapshot of what we're doing You know, the riverfront expansion was a big part of that but also really working with our partnerships We meet on a monthly basis with The county talking about how we can work together Meet in quarterly regionally with the other mayors. How do we support each other? It's no longer Oh, I'm worried about my piece of pie. It's us going. Let's let's work on this together Scout motors being here and coming here Is a great thing for the city of columbia It's a great thing for blightwood. It's a great thing for urma and west columbia and casey Because they're investing in the region. They're not just investing in one area and I think that's just so important You know, but we need to continue to have the input from you and so With that I like to just kind of talk a little bit about public services and our central functions You know, we constantly working with our departments and learning from them how to have a safe clean enjoyable and accessible city And part of that's having conversations with our employees Understanding what are some of the hurdles? What's preventing us from doing the best that we can and sometimes it's our own We're getting in our own way And so learning from them how we improved we went on a tour last year and met with the majority of Of hourly employees and got feedback from them. I learned from them What we were doing wrong Why we were having issues hiring how we were set up and how we could improve But we're continuing to invest and it's far beyond water. Everybody thinks we're just in the water business But we're in 911 management Street divisions billing departments, which I know I get calls about and we're improving every day We're listening to you. We're getting there. We're not there, but we're getting there y'all a year ago We are 6800 work orders and now we're well below 3000 because we came together and said let's fix this problem. What's the problem? Let's take the hurdles that are internally out of the way and let's partner with small businesses to help fill the void Let's do what we do best and find somebody else to do what they do best to help us fill those voids You know, we're continuing to to look we do animal services We have to build a new animal shelter folks It's outdated it's outplayed and there are more opportunities for us to get peep dogs and cats Into foster programs and hopefully into adoption then have to go to a kill Shelter and that's what we want to continue to do is invest and do those type of things that make a difference We're investing in our infrastructure everything from our meters, you know, we installed over 150,000 new water meters Some had some challenges, but the majority almost 95 of those meters that went out are allowing us to share better information with you The consumer because we see when leaks are there we can tell when something's off And it's helping us make sure that we're providing the best service technology once again playing a role The walk the wait times we had a call volume at one point of 1500 calls a day just backing up our call center Frustrating customers who were on the on the phone and couldn't couldn't get through So we got with the staff and said okay, what can we do? Well staff's recommendation was let's move all the people from nights and weekends and focus where the biggest call volume is from Eight to nine eight to five every day and let's use a call service to handle the others And then you can push emergency calls forward and get them handled right away Get billing questions sent right away and get responses. We cut that time down to two minutes And and that's a big achievement, but that's listening to our our employees and and listening to our customer base on how we address that You know we're continuing to work with the different departments to ensure the city has the vibrant enjoyment and efficiency You know and and a lot of that is public safety police I'm very proud of our police department and those of you who are here tonight. Thank you for what you do And I say that out of sincerity because I've been on patrol with them And I see the volume that they deal with today The volume of calls and the minute they have to get out of a car every day and be perfect They have to be perfect because somebody's filming or somebody's doing there and they're doing it with less people Because recruitment is harder and harder it is today. So we're being creative about that We're doing some unique things to recruit officers so that we're not just stealing somebody from lexington or from spartanburg But really looking into other areas. How do we bring people here and get them into working with some great individuals? And I want to thank the chief for his commitment. Thank you chief We're continuing to be committed to our community. Um, I still think you're the best hire we had and the police chief and I stand by that But focusing our strategies using technology on gun violence pinning it down working with our officer of gun violence And how we address that and make a plan to work with community activists and other folks in our communities to make sure that We're reducing it that we're not going 18 up and that we're reducing that and we're using what we know People places in behavior with intervention prevention in law enforcement. Obviously being the last piece of that But using the skill set that we've all learned operation hope and order Really focusing on downtown listening to The constituents from down there about dealing with criminal activity Dealing with some of the lawlessness and other things that are happening But figuring out how we take that that program But help those folks who are needy and need help Using our pathway units So we hired clinicians to work with our police department to go in and really and deal with folks with mental illness challenges And making sure that we can get them and making sure if we can refer them Through our homeless services both mac and and commissure here. Y'all raise your hand These are the folks that are by they're working on this day in and day out with our pallet shelters and others You know our code enforcement, which is now part of the police department 8 000 inspections 20 demolitions of substandard Uh structures, we got about 40 more to go. We funded that so we can get that done so we can get these dilapidated homes out of neighborhoods and start building homes back in those neighborhoods You know, we we lost about nine percent of our population over the last decade Especially in our inner city neighborhoods and we want to build that back one house at a time and we're doing that through a project At the city where we're building we're starting in the belmont neighborhood with with 10 homes In an area where we had some lots that have been empty but putting home ownership opportunities for teachers police officers City employees folks graduating from the housing authority program to have a place So continuing to to make those investments and um, I'd love to hear from Howard and oddity on their thoughts Go ahead so I I would just like to echo what the mayor said about the Emphasis that this council specifically has placed on improving public safety and supporting our police force, whether it's by Creating a incentive plan and pay plan that hopefully recruits the best and the brightest to columbia Or whether it's passing innovative policies and setting the stage for other municipalities to follow our lead one of the things that we passed was really focused on The reporting of lost or stolen firearms We know that that is often the number one place where people get access to firearms that they shouldn't have And many times result in that violent crime and because of that there are other other locations across south carolina also looking to pass an ordinance of that nature You know, we are also continuing to look at ways in which we can improve our relationship with our Neighborhoods and it's wonderful to see that our police continue to show up at neighborhood meetings to provide updates They hand out their cell phone number and that's just standard practice That's something that they've continued to do to help build those partnerships and to build those authentic relationships to improve trust in Our communities and so we're all ears as we continue to find ways in which we can continue to improve the quality of life And continue to make our neighborhoods more safe as the mayor probably would agree with me It's not something that the city can do alone, but we certainly have the tools available Whether it's increased cameras across the city, whether it's you know more of a police presence in areas But we need your help as well in terms of helping us find those hot spots or those pain points that we can address quickly and efficiently Thank you, dr. Busleson I'd like just to say that I have seen the script that daniel's working through the night And it is amazing the the amount of projects that we've got going on in the city of columbia We have 117 Organized neighborhoods in the city and every time I go out and make I have a little to-go Kit that I take with projects that we are working on at that time And I start briefing the neighborhood on Projects that are that are on tap right at that that particular month They are amazed at everything that's going on when I talk about what's developed on the solita river What's developing on the canal? That people are amazed at all these projects that are going on in the city of columbia And we wouldn't be able to do the projects that we do Without a functioning council and I want to brag on the Six people I won't brag on myself At least six of them are working together really well And I think I hope I have contributed something to that but We have a very well functioning council now and proud of what Mayor rickamon has been able to do We wouldn't be able to do that without the superior staff that we have in the city of columbia Our staff is top notch. I have worked with municipal staff For 50 years and I can say that this staff in the city of columbia is right at the top of the best Thank you, Howard. Thank you audity for for your words, you know, we talked about the office of violent crime Obviously, we funded and staffed it and we've mentioned about how important working with our police department taking the data that we have And and really getting in there and being a quarterback to bring people together because we realize that There are a lot of people doing a lot of great things But we've got to have a bit larger impact And our goal is to reduce the shootings and you it seems like more and more today that gun violence is just the quick answer to what used to be a School yard fight and we'd move on and carry on and now people just shoot each other So I think a lot of that is is us really getting out there, but we need help from the community to 70 of the guns that we recover from these are stolen So let's let's not leave guns in your car. Let's keep things locked up Let's do our part to help as a community But we've also been working as I mentioned partnerships So richland ones a partnership that we we struck on the jag program the jobs for american graduates that they had in C.A. Johnson It was the only high school that had the program This is a program that works with some really challenged kids from their freshman year of high school all the way to their Freshman year college to make sure that they're getting help that they're getting to class that they're part of the community and that the gaps that they have in In they're learning that there's their help to get it The governor put a challenge out the first 25 schools to sign up. He would pay for 75 percent of the program So we went and signed up for the additional eight high schools in district one And took that slot and then richland one and the city of columbia are funding the the back portion So each of us have put 12 and a half percent in it along with the governor and hopefully that that could change 600 lives And so when we talk about partnerships, those are the type of things that we're trying to do which improves quality of life and opportunities for folks here Our fire department We we wouldn't be here without our fire department these guys risk their lives every day They become first responders and they put their lives at risk every day But they're doing so much. They're they're inspecting their fire prevention division is inspecting Hundreds of of buildings every year. They're in there every school They've installed 225 or 27. Excuse me smoke alarms for citizens They're they're we've approved the second gear for them. So now they have a second set of bunker gear We're investing in a new Fire station. We're investing in our new fire houses. We did a competitive pay So now they have a competitive pay that puts them On board with everyone else at a level that they can see and they can see what they're making for the next 10 years out And why it's important because if you're wearing a uniform today We're having a fight to keep you and and get you in and I know there are some questions about recruitment and others That we'll get to at the end of the meeting which I'm excited to talk about because we're doing some Out of the box thinking when it comes to that Most important and it's it's probably one of our top issues next to roads Homelessness has become one of the biggest issues that we have to deal with in colombia I'm very proud to say that we propped up in a short amount of time Thanks to the city manager and the senior staff. We came to them with a pallet home Process and we put 50 pallet homes up in about 60 days and had it operating in 90 days And since then we've been able to get almost I think it's over 30 now Commissure is that right? over 30 people transitioned from there Into permanent housing But we've been able to refer a lot of other people to other services to make sure they're getting the wraparound services and And really tackling that unsheltered piece one bite at a time and really doing it with Intentional to make sure that we are getting people the help they need We're not there yet And hopefully our goal is to build what we call the hope center and the hope center will be a A community that's focused in having all the services on site So we're talking about urgent care with physical therapy dentistry behavioral I don't want to say science. That's not the right term, but behavioral health. Thank you Working on having clinicians on site, but also working with the governor To bring all the departments in we had a meeting with dmh today It's the fourth meeting we've had with them About services that they can help us with everything from telemedicine To others to make sure that we're getting people because the the majority of folks in our Unshelter population almost 40 that we know of have mental health business or they have Addictions so working with the raid act but bringing those services to one place That it allows us to actually make sure people are getting the help that they need and and it's going to be so important for us All to behind it, but you know services are leaving downtown D-HEC will be moving in the future So that means that we have to get people help people to go get Their birth certificates and other things that they need for benefits dmb's already located in the edges of town and taking folks in and out But having all those services together where they're available Once or twice a week at a site So that we can make sure people get the help that they need And that's part of our focus because homelessness has grown over the last three years And it's had a major impact on the quality of life of those individuals who are homeless Because they're in a situation that's not safe But it's also having an impact on residents And businesses and we're a very compassionate city. There are 103 different types of services available to homeless in our community and about 40 million dollars a year spent on different homeless services But we're not reducing it so we got to try something different Dr. Bussells ran our homeless task force And had great input and we're trying to take those those initiatives in one step at a time try to make a difference in that Did you want to add something to that? Absolutely So I would say that one of the things that we learned through that process And it was a very intentional process of bringing together our business owners and citizens But then also engaging our providers those who've already been doing this work and finding those gaps in terms of Some of the issues that we continue to see so one of the biggest I think pieces of feedback that we often got from you all when in our entertainment districts Was that there was nowhere to call after 5 p.m And that was something we really pushed our partners on what what are we doing after 5 p.m You know homelessness doesn't end, you know at 5 p.m There has to be options So one of the things that the city has done with our homeless services team is we do have outreach and then We're working with other outreach Specialists across different partners that we have to try and engage that hard to reach population And hopefully get them the resources that they need One of the biggest issues and I'll be real with you all is the rates of refusal People are still refusing to engage in these services and we have plenty of different options available And that's going to continue to be a challenge as we have to build those relationships We're dealing with trauma. We're dealing with addiction We're dealing with a lot of different factors and the city can't do it alone And so one of the things that I have encouraged our citizens to do is to To make sure that you let people know that the rapid shelter is an option that's available It is something that is low barrier and it requires a referral But it's very easy to do and we can get folks plugged in into Living with dignity in a single occupancy space, which oftentimes works much better than that traditional shelter model, right And then in terms of what we're looking at in the future in addition to that hope center We're looking at ways in which the city can continue to lead on some of these efforts Where it comes to really having accountability across the different services that are available Maybe reaching out to our our federal partners and seeing if there's innovating innovative funding that's available to help Support some of these efforts. It's not going to change overnight But just know that we are looking at the root causes of why homelessness exists in Colombia And there's no one answer that's going to help solve the problem No, I don't think I'll have to add anything that Dr. Belserles and Mayor have covered it. I think that this is a national problem Not just a columbia problem and we have to be careful Uh, not to accept more responsibility than is due for the city of Colombia when it is a statewide problem caused by defunding of services to mental health Drugs and everything else. So the state needs to step up And handle the funding for this Which is very true But we're going to continue to to push to lead and bring people to the table because partnerships are what drive it And that's why we've been meeting with with the interim director of dmh and his staff and other folks Our healthcare systems and others to bring people to partner. This is a community issue And we we're going to have to drive it together as a community But we can't just sit back idly on our hands and just continue to do what we're doing We got to make a difference and I think it's it's very important that we continue to do that as as a council and as a city and Excited that we have an opportunity to do it and people want a partnership collaborations seem to be The trend and I think when we show that collaboration federal money will open up because one thing I've learned after all these trips up into Washington Trying to shake the federal tree for money Is is that collaboration is the key word and how are you collaborating with other folks in your region to make a difference? And so we'll continue to do that the collaboration just segues us into Talking about expanding our access to the river, you know with our parks and working together to to Open up that river and when you look at it the 200 acres that we talked about earlier with dominion that opened it up Ties us into the ermo Recreation and commission with what they're doing bringing access from the dam all the way down. It's going to turn us into A tourist destination similar. We hear so much about other cities and their trails and how they connect Well, here we have an opportunity down the road That you'll be able to go from downtown all the way to the dam on foot or by bike And make your way across over to elmwood park cut over and go over to end of coffee or over to war mouth And have lunch and if you get a stomach ache, you can continue the trail over to richland memorial check into the ER get fixed up get back on your bike and head back downtown for dinner But the connectivity is our recruiting tool. It's what people are looking for Um, when we talk to our young folks, we have a council of of College collegiate engagement and part of that was stemmed from us Asking kids, why aren't you staying here after college? Why are you leaving? Well, housing was a big part of that these young folks want to live in our downtown They don't want to live in a house anymore They don't want to buy a house in shandan or rosewood or cotton town or anywhere They want to live in a tower with amenities. They want to shut their door and they want to walk to work They want to walk to services and walk to entertainment They want the inner city feel and that's where we see the growth in places like charlotte and South boulevard is because that's what they're providing. That's what we're recruiting for. How do we get more of that? But also cross pollinating our campuses I probably spent more time in the last two years in alan and venedict working with dr Artist and others about making sure that we're cross pollinating our campuses And part of what I heard from the kids is is they want to have relationships with students at other campuses But they also don't know what each other are doing So opening those communication lines the university of south carolina did a great thing like this past year For last year's homecoming they gave 2000 tickets to the other colleges and universities to their homecoming concert for their students To invite this and they got used up kids were working together students were sharing ideas and having a social We did we did the first right before Summertime we're going to do another one this fall where we had the collegiate side side hustle these kids who have their Their own little business if it's jewelry making or whatever giving them a half a block It's so the city so they could sell their stuff It was a way for the kids to come together and share ideas and show what their talents are And it's opened up a lot of relationships kids now looking that are graduating from venedict or going to law school At the university of south carolina. They're taking advantage of graduate programs at ciu and others The kids are doing it because we're showing them the other thing we learned from them that was so important Was the fact that those kids didn't understand all the opportunities here and that's on us Not marketing and not sharing not introducing them to the business community So the new dean has made a commitment to work with us to do that and i'm so excited about that opportunity But all of that stems into economic development and why they want to be here. William street extension is a great example For 15 years. We've been talking about the gen yards property and how to connect and how to work We're so excited to to work with that family and open up and with now that we have funding to build the connectivity road That grows the commercial So if we can grow the commercial and the residential in there, that's money that then we can capture And use to maintain and put forth to a park once again a partnership with dominion dominion Is giving us all the rock as of this week. They're finished with the coffer dams. They're done in the river It's cleaned up approved All that rock and everything is now being used to fill up the shoreline and using to fill up gaps That will help us build the base so that we can connect the trail and hopefully future have a nice riverfront park With more access to the river both for kayakers for for hikers for bikers and for those who just want to have a beautiful view Of what I think is one of our greatest assets the river But we couldn't do that if we didn't all our apartments work together, you know, so we go from parks and wrecks We go to economic development. They all tie in together, but public works This completed so many initiatives and I don't think roberts here tonight robert anderson had a public works But they're continuing to improve and do things to improve our community Investing in our forestry looking at pilot programs. We're we're we're going to plant. I think 336,000 dollars worth of trees this year Working with partnerships to maintain With not only dot but garden clubs and others to bring back those beautiful medians And get sustainable planting in there so that when people come through our community that it's a good reflection Instead of a tomato plant and a weed being in the middle of jewellery. That's not who we are But doing that together, you know I think with the we talked a little bit about the animal shelter and we received a hundred thousand dollar grant To continue to help us to get to the no kill But what it's made us realize is that we need to invest in a new facility And that's one of our our capital programs that we will be looking to work with the private sector and unique Financing and do something out of the box I'm very proud to say that the columbia south carolina is the only city in south carolina that Achieved gold lead status by the us green building and that's a reflection in our community.  It's a big deal for economic development It's a big deal for recruitment and it's a big deal that we are being conscious of our environment and planning for the future This is really about our grandkids and their kids So you know more that we do and I want to thank all the folks at our public works Who painstakingly went through that process? It's not an easy process And that's why it's a big deal and i'm proud that we're number one In south carolina Howard, did you want to add or add it to anything to that? I would just like to tag on to wiham street. I think the Putting wiham street between gervais and blossom It will be a great stimulus for development along the river Probably 20 years ago when university first put out their Vision of what could happen between the campus now and the river They were moving towards the river And I saw all the buildings that they had planned and projects they had planned. I went home I was still working at that time and told alian. That's where we're going to retire Well, it didn't quite get built fast enough. So I just got as far as senate street instead of wiham street But i'm moving i'm moving in the right direction and I might go down there to wiham street later on Which you know brings us to why projects are so important and why we're leveraging every opportunity at the federal level We hired consultants to help us go after grants because although a lot of the federal money and a lot of people don't understand It's not formula-based. It's application-based. So we have to be very intentional about our applications And leveraging those and being creative listening to we didn't get a mega grant But we went back and met with the staff. Well, what do we need to do and better? So we've applied back well one of those projects for us, which I think is very important in our downtown Is working with the railroad since 1905 there was a book written about the modernization of columbia And there were two things in there that stood out to me one was the relocation of rail downtown And and fiddly park that those were the two big things that we needed a central park Well, we got that and we're rebuilding that but what we don't have is a relocation And so elevating those rail tracks on rosewood And assembly street along with 15 different closings y'all we have 60 crossings In our community we have more crossings than any other city in south carolina And why is this important? Well one it cuts off a neighborhood both from a safety standpoint and an equity standpoint you know number two Between the inlet port And our port and its increased growth with our automotive industry that's coming through rail traffic Is increased somewhere between 30 and 40 and they believe it's going to exceed 50 to 60 percent Because of the growth in these industries And so we're going to see more traffic It's great for our sister cities in the upstate in the low country because they they see that we're just the travel point So investing and in working with we've received over 40 million dollars from the state We're applying for the infra the mega the chrissey every grant known to man To go over this project that we've actually been working on as a community for two decades Engineering's done Working with the railroad about what pull they don't pull all of these things have been worked on for so long But we haven't been able to get it out of the hunt We have an opportunity with this historic funding through the the programs that are there to do it It's our time and why this is so important and why I think we have an opportunity to do something with one We've been talking about it for 120 years and i'm ready to put this project to bed But two it's the only project in the state of south carolina that has ever gone to the federal government with the state local neighboring communities The entire congressional delegation i'm talking about the whole state congress and senate The governor the universities mayors from the surrounding counties and cities All signed on and a letter of support for this project It made a major impact Because that's how other cities get things done And this monumentally will change downtown for columbia if we can get it done And we're going to keep pushing hard on the mega and the infra. We're going to continue to get there But just part of that is is relocation But the next step for that is the quiet zones Which means spending up to 13 million dollars on 14 grade crossings to improve the security In the crossover of that because if we can do that that eliminates that horn That you hear in the middle of the night and early in the morning through our downtown neighborhoods That improves the quality of life and those are the things that we're pushing forward through grants and and uh Funding opportunities from the state and i want to thank Senator harpool in because he's been a driver on the quiet zones It might have something to do that he hears the horn more than most people But for whatever reason it is we're very grateful that he wants to work with us to do it So as we continue to drive those community improvements a lot of it is around basic services But also opening up and taking away any barriers for safety and I think that's important I think the next piece for us really is is talking about neighborhoods and communities The heart of our city friendly park You know our crown jewel 24 million dollars in reinvestment And what's important about it is a lot of people say well, how are you going to deal with the safety? How are you going to deal with the maintenance? Well, I'm going to be honest with you We didn't do a good job with that in the past But we did not But the difference is is now we're doing what we learned from all our other parks. We're activating the park We're having park rangers who are stationed there and part of the day-to-day life seven days a week Along with having maintenance crews and everything where people are engaged in that park What else has changed our downtown living is increasing. We have more people living in our downtown corridor Who are looking for that outdoor? Peace to have exercise relaxation But activating the park New water features new trails But also an amphitheater that can do everything from concerts To plays it was designed correctly. It's designed into the hill So it reflects out and you can take advantage of all the beautiful grass in the setting But it allows us to bring a whole lot of different experiences To our residents downtown and that's what people are looking for Once again three major highways. We are located where people want to come So let's give them the things that we can do do and and give them more chances to be here socially culturally And hopefully invest and god bless them. Please move here. We'd love to have you Hyatt park made major investments over 350,000 in baseball outdoor basketball and mural donation from asia wilson An athlete who sells columbia all the time She's been the mvp two years in a row high-scorer during the playoffs But i'll tell you one thing she gives back to this community and every time we've asked her to do something to help us Especially when it comes to neighborhoods and youth. She's been there and um, I wish she was here That we could thank her. I know we're gonna do an event at parks and recs foundation honoring her Um for her work, but she continues to find ways and what's great about it Is that we've applied through grants so that we can get some more outdoor exercise facilities to do one in each district And we're partnering up to build these outdoor platforms So that we can have more exercise opportunities because our goal is to be a blue zone With if you don't know what a blue zone is a blue zone is where we have people living up to 100 years old We're extending their lives. We're gonna do an assessment and you'll be part of that assessment Richland memorial hospital board is going to fund that study And we're gonna figure out how we do that how we improve the quality of life here But we also came out of that as nancy Lieberman who was the first female coach in the mba former national championship coach in the wnba Has a program too and I met her and I told her about what we were doing with asia Now she wants to come here and bring us another court in a challenged neighborhood And be part of that because she said if I didn't have a public court to play on when I was a kid I would have never been in the seat where I am today So her goal is to give back to every community she can through her foundation And so we're looking forward to having that announcement here before long We're investing in those parks with technology So that that our residents and kids have an opportunity to have access to computers and continue to Learn and get tutoring and being part of our parks truly being a center of the community We had free sports clinics for over 500 youth. We had summer summer camps 1400 youth were involved in that trying to make it different after school programs at five city parks We have senior post programs for seniors through our trips bingo and Aerobics In special events But we're doing things to engage people and be part of that and that's part of what we want to do And then obviously our efforts to revitalize neighborhoods We we we propped up a love your grant blocks 12 neighborhoods use that to clean up and revitalize planting plants Fixing their trees, you know We had 130 units and 20 homes repaired through our community block grant Boyd foundation If you if you ever run into mrs. Boyd or or george and four bailey or any of the family members Take the time to thank them Because what they're doing in our community is incredible They're spending millions of dollars to improve the quality of life in our city If it's on the river if it's downtown at the Hampton Preston building a mansion with their their outdoor Facility that they built the gardens there that they've invested into the incubator They put a million dollars in an incubator where we're growing businesses and giving opportunities and attracting tech companies here They're being on the forefront. They've committed to two bridges On our riverfront when the canal gets reappliced and out On the other side of boyd island. I forgot what we call that little track The the broad river the broad river is going to have a bridge across it paid for by the boyd foundation And that's been permitted and getting ready to they've gotten the money to do it They're also putting in a bridge at the hydro plant next to the stake museum That will connect the area around the stake museum to the canal when it's finished and give us Connectivity all the way to boyd island. They paid for boyd island boyd island is a very special place Dedication on the 30th of september coming up october October excuse me october By the way, daniel, I like that blue zone and live into a hundred bit I'm gonna vote for that one We're gonna try we actually have a blue zone here It's interesting because I went to visit a lady to celebrate her 105th birthday ever at Pruitt health Which is right off Taylor and in forest drive And I sat next to a lady who was 105 who was very chatty And next to her was a lady who was 100 years old and the lady next to her was 99 And the three ladies across the table were 95. I didn't get a word in edgewise But it was all in one place so I know that we're headed down the right track Obviously, we're continuing to invest in partner. This is where collaboration comes in But investing in food insecurity It's a problem in our community and trying to address it through through different programs But not repeat mistakes that we've seen in the past So we funded a mobile market that will be going in, uh, hopefully in the spring Which will be delivering fresh groceries and opportunities with a local farmer Here, uh, it will have everything from eggs, milk, butter Um, uh, fresh vegetables fruit. Obviously, Tom's Creek is located located here But we're also trying something monumental. It's actually going to be hopefully, um, It's going to turn into a national model with Instacart, which is taking advantage of technology as we talk about So we're working a program through grants to provide Free delivery to folks impacted by food insecurity and we're going to start with folks on Medicaid and Medicare as a start Because we can we have that information and we can get them and And working with them and those folks who don't have tablets or may not have banking We've got a banking partner who wants to help them Create what they need for bank accounts and the ATM cards credit cards so that they can use that So they can order their groceries when they want to Providing tablets to those folks Who don't have it and teaching them how to do this program But making it free and you get to pick your grocery store This model is a very exciting Instacart is very excited to be it. We're going to have a huge announcement here at the end of the month With them launching it and it started off with us initially saying let's pilot it with 10,000 That money's already increased and we're getting money from other sources people want to be part of it Because technology can help help fill a void without risking and and And I say that it's just in Spartanburg County They just spent another 900 million dollars to refurbish a grocery store to bring somebody in and within 12 months it closed And the what the what you don't want to have is a grocery store to close in an area twice Because once it's done that it'll never be a grocery store again and we can't afford that Anywhere in town we've got to make sure when we make that investment When we partner with somebody that it's going to be successful so that we don't go backwards We only go forwards Did you want to add anything to the food insecurity? I just wanted to say that I think Mayor should toot his horn a little bit more about this You know, this was an issue that came up a lot in terms of when we were campaigning the inconsistency and lack of access to Fresh and whole foods and it's easy to say that we just need to build a new grocery store, right and um For us it's a very emotional thing to see injustice and people not have Access to those those resources, but for grocery stores it's often about the bottom line and so to be able to work around some of these existing challenges And partner with a you know, I would say a pretty young company like instacart that has really revolutionized grocery Pickups, especially during covet and now For those that may not be able to go to the grocery store I think is pretty incredible and so I think we Are very excited to continue to think about ways in which we can work around some of those obstacles of Maybe not being able to get something immediately like a large grocery store, but still being able to provide access in an innovative way I think the mobile market that's coming in in january 1st of february is going to be a really big hit We're going to pardon with our parks and recreation to give it a space to park in We're going to do what the mayor would call wraparound services With the food truck And that they will have be able to do health things exercise things Sign up for programs. So I think that's going to be a big hit when it gets off the ground And we're going to continue to invest we made a commitment our strategic planning As a council we said we wanted to invest in the city. We want to invest in our employees We want to continue to invest in our parks our infrastructure and make it the best place And that has the biggest impact on our citizens on a day-to-day basis Um, you know, we talked about market salary adjustments We've done step up plans for both the police and the fire leadership development and employee training Very important. We need to invest in our future And we have so many talented employees and giving them an opportunity to advance themselves is very important We're going to continue to do that improving our technology You know using technology to solve problems. We have to think differently today We can't continue to provide service and support the way we have in the past. It can't just be manpower We got to use technology that's out there to make sure that we're delivering the best services And then obviously our big focus this year too is consolidating city offices We're going to consolidate multiple and we're going to put up about 15 to 17 properties to be sold and put back on the on the tax roll And consolidating is a good thing for for multiple reasons a we get pieces out there Back on the tax roll, but we actually get our employees in our departments working closer together Communicating more which brings in better efficiencies. It allows them to collaborate better and improve the quality of life Everything we're doing is trying to improve the quality of life here in our community and make columbia the number one city We want to be a role model for everyone else and we're continuing to lead By stepping outside the box and trying different things. We are going to fail some folks. I'm gonna be honest with you It's okay. It's what we learn from that and how we improve and move forward We're not scared to try something and then obviously our last piece is economic development We've had an incredible year in development Close to 600 million dollars Our hospitality and business districts are growing as I said mentioned earlier We're on the road and charlotte charleston Atlanta Greenville meeting with people at their doorsteps talking to these restaurant tours and these retailers Meeting with housing and development folks helping us figure out how to fill those voids We have five new hotels come in five new multifamily in three different city districts Just met with some folks the other day. Probably going to have two more announced I mean, we're going to have close to two billion dollars worth of construction happening in this community over the next 24 months And that's because people see columbia as an opportunity a great place to live And as we increase our downtown living taking advantage of these empty parking lots In these empty city blocks and putting buildings on there With people who are here to work play and invest and be part those folks going to the theater Making sure that they're taking part in our community. I'm so excited about it But we're actively recruiting and I say that we're doing something different We're going to them and not waiting for them to come us We are telling our story and I think it's so important because we have so much to share and tell Um, did you want to add anything to that Howard? Well, I I think uh one of the things that I'd like to look at is cola today If you look at the cola today on thursday or friday where they list all the events that are going to happen on the weekend It makes you tired reading the list I mean, we've got a lot of things happening every weekend and sometimes, uh Um, like the jerry garsi or sunday at five points. I had some of my old folks and where I live Complaining about the noise and I said you must not be a deadhead I They should have gone down and I would just add that if our enthusiasm For economic development isn't enough one of the things that we've also been pushing is to make it easier To start a business here in columbia. That was something that Was really important to all of us. So whether it's moving our business licensing online Who having a business liaison that's dedicated to Helping you kind of navigate how to even engage the city for the different permits and things that you need To open a business to you know our different programs to help uplift Uh an existing business these are all things that we're trying to actively promote and help those who Maybe have never opened a business here be able to do so easily You don't have to know someone to be successful here. That's the goal You should be able to come here with a dream and be able to bring it to life And I think we're seeing that Ryan Coleman is here from our economic development office and I've been dragging them all over the place doing ribbon cuttings and Working with but he's he is working with businesses and helping them navigate We've got more compliments from people saying it's so much easier to do business here that y'all made it easier to get permits Krista Hampton and our team went through and figured out how we can get people through the pipeline quicker and faster Time is money for folks and when you're a small business That that's a lifetime of money. So everything that we can do our business friendly initiatives that we put forth Our staff is following through with that and getting it done and and I just think it it's Shows that everybody is working together as a team to get things done Obviously bull street is is growing leaps and bounds. It's changed it a little bit as y'all remember Now it was supposed to be 80 retail and this and that now it's becoming more housing Office space smaller restaurant, but it's filling up. It's growing And I think that's that's a testimony to folks realizing that maybe the path we were headed down wasn't headed the right way Robert Hughes young robert who is running the show now is just done an incredible job I love when I see his name come across my phone because it's usually great news But he's also saying hey will you talk to these folks? Will you tell them about columbia? Nobody sells it better than you and we've gone to different meetings with folks together to bring different options entertainment To the district and really bring it where it encompasses and grows and and we have to think about that because the success There is going to be important as we think about planning when de heck moves out of downtown And we have a whole another 50 to 60 acres to be thinking about In a core center of our community How we're going to work together to to grow and fill that space with the right development to enhance And support our community in our historic neighborhoods downtown Scout motors. I mentioned it earlier folks. This is probably one of the best things that can happen to us We have an opportunity to be part of the automotive industry But also benefit from the leadership if you've seen what's happened in the upstate with bmw And what's great about it is some of the leadership at scout especially on the governing board Are folks that were part of bmw in the beginning folks that lived there in 1985 when everything started to happen Who were there at the plant growth and what really excited me is when I had an opportunity to talk to the chattanooga mayor And I said tell me about bw as a partner He said they're invested in our community our youth our cultural our restaurants They do everything to be part of a community. They're living in our neighborhoods. They're attending our schools They're supporting our art programs And here's the other thing he said if you look at their history They've never closed a plant that they've opened when they're in they're in and I think that's a testimony and it says a lot And I'm excited about what they're going to bring and the spin-offs that's going to come with that and the technology The opportunity for the 65,000 young people in our community our military retirement folks Who have an opportunity to take an incredible job? Which is a huge population for us the general told me the other night that seven out of ten Families that are retiring at fort jackson Now are choosing columbia as their home and he wants to figure out how we welcome them more to the community That is a built-in workforce. We have something that the upstate in the low country don't have We have those students and those military families who are going to make a big difference in our future workforce Not only with scout, but battery and some of the other programs that you're seeing that are going to come downtown And I think that's exciting adding to that I have to say that the new dean is working with us to embrace all the graduates Where are those graduates and their their Careers the MIBS program graduates. We have so many there in c-sweets. We're going to see them And we're going to tug on their emotional code a little bit and say We have an urban city. We want your back office. We want your cyber units. We want your subsidiaries You went to school there. You know our community. You know the workforce we have come with us And let's build something together Let's bring part of your company here and let's create more job opportunities so we can keep all this talent that we had in So partnerships are a key obviously we've had A tremendous amount of new business licenses new businesses not just renewals, but new businesses small large and medium in our city I think this year alone. We've had over 950 new business licenses That's a testimony of what we're doing is working and people want to be here because people are moving not just for the ease of doing business But the quality of life and the character of community Quality of life and character of the community plays a much larger role today in recruitment than anything else People are making that about where they the intentional of where they're living. It's not just job driven You talk to these young people they're picking cities and areas before they have a job. It's about they want the quality of life Well, so do other folks today So balancing that and continuing to improve that is important Obviously our office of business opportunity our economic development team worked enhances Dr. Bussells mentioned small existing and new businesses They're helping people figure out how they start a business figuring out those traps making sure that the things they are doing put them on a path to success And they can take advantage of any federal state or local program if it's tax incentives employment tax credits or Or anything from facade grants To small business loan applications. They're there to help I mean they they I think met with over 5000 of our local business owners through workshops and events They hosted our small this year was our 10th annual. I believe 10th annual Small business conference and they touch points with about 212 small businesses But we've done close to 70 ribbon cuttings. What's exciting about the ribbon cuttings this last month was the biggest month We've ever had and the majority of them were women owned businesses So I know we're doing the right thing and I know that we're doing that because people want to have a ribbon cutting today They're proud to say that they're in columbia, south carolina But they will also tell you that our staff at obo and economic development And in our staff across the city has made them feel welcome And part of the community and the neighborhoods have embraced them And I think that once again another testimony of what we have here in columbia, south carolina Do you want to add anything either one of you? I was glad that you were out of town when they opened up the pickleball Shop and five points. I got to open. I got to cut that ribbon For the pickleball equipment. Are you playing yet? I'm not playing yet, but I'm thinking about it serious But you're so excited for someone who doesn't play the biggest advocate We the reason we jumped on pickleballs because howard kept pounding and pounding We got to we got to get caught up with the other and then we found out he doesn't even play Yeah I guess I would add the growing sport I would just add it's been incredible to see the diversity of businesses open up as well I mean, I think this past month you had several different cuisines come to our entertainment district Many of which that are owned by millennials or the next generation of business owners Which is very exciting to see more people plant their roots here And so my run through talk a little bit about some some of the projects in district four that we've in a lot of Major columbia water projects approved and completed, you know, forest acres water service improvement phase one That was a three million dollar investment garden spring sewer service three million dollars pin branch Stream stabilization that's six million dollars and very a key to what we learned from the 2015 flooding And how we need to address it with all the growth that we're seeing in our community Obviously, we've begun Road improvements in wood Creek farms in the entrance way We just found out that we own a portion of a road that we didn't know so we're working on improving that That piece we only own 600 feet of it, but we're going to fix it But continuing to work on Especially with dot addressing a lot of our roads and for those of you who don't know that We have 492 miles worth of roads in columbia 72 percent on my own by dot And for a long time there was this hesitation to work with us on being creative and trying different things And now we're getting to the point where that relationship is is growing strong And we're looking hopefully in the spring to launch a slowdown Neighborhood zones so moving it to 25 miles an hour across the city and all neighborhoods Looking at trying different bump outs asphalt art 3d a whole lot of different Traffic calming I'm still not giving up on trying to get speed cameras and red light cameras The legislature has continued to not support that But the evidence is behind it If we could have those kind of tools in our school zones our work zones And eventually in our neighborhoods, we really could slow that down and we can do it It doesn't have to be a criminal penalty make it a civil penalty But we got to getting the folks slowing down and being more conscious We have more people being outside. We've got more kids playing around And we've got to get people focused on driving and you know say to georgia just went to know texting you can't Text and stuff and then we've got to start thinking aggressively because I literally every time i'm at a stoplight I can tell when somebody's on their phone because they're not moving And then you see them pop up and hit the gas real hard and you know, unfortunately But it also takes to be quite honest It takes a lot Average accident for our police officers an hour and a half worth of time and effort Just think if we could reduce the accidents the service calls by our first responders our fire department Who are having to go there the wear and tear on those trucks all these things that could be prevented by using technology To enforce our existing laws So we're going to continue to do that Obviously, you know beautification projects on garner's fairy a lot of people talking about that But we really Clean up is our next real beautification and cleanup We're working on some creative programs with our staff and some community community partners to to really push the cleanup program Because I've got to tell you when you drive in some of our gateways the trash the weeds the other thing It is not who we are as a community And we've got to address it and partnering We've done some gateway cleanups too with dot, but that was us in the county investing in it And I know a lot of y'all probably read about the penny sales tax I would be in favor of a penny sales tax under this condition That a third of it goes to the transit system A third of it goes to the city of columbia and a third of it goes to county for roads and sidewalks only If I had that type of funding I could fix every road in columbia in a decade. It's 180 million dollars worth of and we've already looked at it We're trying to figure out how we bite that elephant, but we are not getting funded by the state the state is not providing us Funding for maintenance of their roads. So we've got to be creative We're getting very little there and I think if we can do that that buys us 20 years And then we can stock hold that money and continue to invest But I still got neighborhoods and school areas that don't have sidewalks I got roads that are are in ill repair and continue we can patch all we want But the reality is they need to be resurfaced and repaid. This would be an opportunity us to try White surfacing on it as well. So those roads that are are fairly well maintained We can seal code it and create reflectivity y'all We have a heat map study done and we're 18 Hotter because of all the asphalt and the roads that we have that brings down cooling That's better for health and these are simple things we can do while we're doing Road repair and so we're going to have some lively discussions down the road about the penny But I think the only way to do it is if we know it's going to the specific Not trying to pick out projects that we did run over costs Focus on what we need to provide the number one complaint we get is roads Number one complaint. Did y'all want to add anything to that? You didn't And then obviously we're continuing to to invest in the in our parks in our neighborhoods maze park is getting an $850,000 Redo this year with pickleball courts. I might add Coming We're very excited about that that project and the revitalization of a key neighborhood Obviously, we've begun on educational environmental educational center at southeast park Obviously still wanting to do some more improvements there bathrooms and other things to enhance that park It's getting more use than we've ever seen a lot of it has to do with the pickleball A lot of it has to do with tennis Obviously, uh, love our block grant went to south Mettafield neighborhood they improved their community The neighborhood cleanups hosted in forest hills and cross hill with support for our community But we got to do more we got to continue to invest planning those trees Fixing up our medians continuing to take our other parks And investing in them and improving them as a place that's not only a safe haven But a place that families can enjoy and be part of in the community Economic development we talked about we talked about a lot There's a lot going on in this corridor and I hope there's a lot more You know We've had we've seen a lot of coffee places popping up But I want to see some more businesses pop up I want to see some more retail and others and part of our recruitment is taking The numbers of the volumes that these stores are doing and showing people where that is How do we enhance everything from cross hill all the way up to cedar terrace and take advantage of the growth That we're seeing that way but the reinvestment that we're seeing in that in that those neighborhoods the fissure house that happened Veterans is bringing all types of veteran families in as they're getting treatment and having help Why is that important because it's showcasing our city is showcasing what we have so cleaning up that corridor investing in that corridor and then obviously, you know, we have A major six 66 million dollar project hotel multifamily and restaurant I just heard that out on garner's ferry. There's a big piece of property coming up for sale Three hotels want to locate on that that means more visitors are coming that means more people are spending dollars And they're staying over in columbia, which is a good thing that means fort jackson is getting back up That means, you know, they bring 250,000 families to our community 45,000 recruits 6.7 billion dollars worth of economic impact so enhancing That gateway enhancing the amenities that are around there to keep those families and those visitors Coming to columbia spending their dollars seeing their loved ones and being proud and then You want to add anything to any of that? What what I saw on what you just went through is the how large the city of columbia is Spears creek road halfway to camden is in the city of columbia and a lot of those projects that The mayor just went through or on spear creek road Parts of all the way up to past ermo or in the city of columbia It is a big geographical area and it's very important that we recognize how big it is when we're talking about police coverage fire coverage and Economic development that has to be spread out over a very large geographical area We're going to continue to work as we said improving, but we can't do it We're we're we're just one piece of the puzzle. So I'd like y'all to look under your seat There's a there's something under your seat if you'll grab it Don't be shy doesn't bite It's a piece of the puzzle You're part of the puzzle that completes us as a city and if you notice a puzzle it has multiple pieces and points and it connects So we've adopted this idea of that we're all going to be a part of the puzzle So I ask you when you leave do you want to be the colored side active be real Part of the community and do things make suggestions correct us when we make mistakes Invest in our community by spending dollars being social being positive talking about the great things to your friends neighbors and Or do you want to be the black side?  I want to be active I want to be part of the puzzle and what I realize and what I've learned through the last 18 months Is that we're all part of the puzzle We're all part of the pieces and we're only collectively as strong as we are all connected So I ask you when you leave here today To think about what you're going to do to be part of the puzzle How are you how are you going to take your piece and improve your neighborhood your community and how involved are you going to be? Now we did have some questions In surprise surprise my dear friend Jim Reed had a whole bunch of them Um, I know Jim you you you asked about recruitment and he had talked to some folks Probably a year ago or two years ago. We did lose people to other agencies But now we're we probably have the most competitive pay plan there is Take-home cars training opportunities And quite frankly the best police chief there is and the best command staff there is and uh, I will tell you today. We're not losing officers. We're gaining officers, but we're still short I'm not going to try to sugarcoat it We're being creative We we're to st. Gift baskets in the winter to the coldest cities in thing to their police departments showing them how warm and nice Columbia is and how they could move here We're recruiting differently and what we've learned is just recruiting locally. All we're doing is stealing from each other Sheriff sees it the sheriff in lexington Around the state corrections is doing it. We're working together to try things differently going taking advantage of some of our our our Officers who are from buffalo and other place using their contacts Using a national marketing firm to help us get more applications in the more applications We get in the better quality candidates to get more opportunity. We have to recruit At the same time we also have to be realistic. We're not the only ones doing that So investing in the technology and the training and the things to improve Pushing our legislator to give these guys the tools and the technology that they need to do their job But also don't make them keep arresting the same people five times And we got to improve the judicial system Because right now you hear the you you hear the police chief talk about it. You hear the sheriff talk about it You hear other folks talking about we've got to change the way our judicial system I'm all about people getting second chances But when you got 41 counts and you've been arrested multiple multiple times And then you get let off on leniency by a judge and two days later you get arrested again We don't need that. We're just we're just putting the same people in we are taxing the talented officers that we have And we got to show that support. That's where y'all can help y'all can help there Recruitment and retain as we said trying different things going to different places Selling the quality of life we have but also the pay opportunity because When you're talking about pay people just look at the base pay They just look at this but they don't understand the value of the benefits that we provide A lot of people in other cities don't understand take-home cars. That's a big deal charlotte has no take-home cars This is a benefit But also the opportunities to work all these events because we're a capital city We have all these events. There's opportunities for officers to make money And and and do that by working different events from soda city to football games So it really has an opportunity for them to increase pay even beyond Think where a lot of cities don't have that opportunity or it's very limited to certain certain officers Code enforcement, I don't know what violations Are repeated. I know that we've struggled sometimes in the court But I'll look into your area and let me see it may be us getting our own way And so let's analyze those one by one and address those And I think that's how we'll be able to enforce that we've got more enforcement going now more cases than we've ever had And continuing to push that but we also need neighborhood help with that I tell you we're going to try something different. Hopefully the technology is being done right now in greenville in a test Which it's a basically a system that mounts to garbage trucks And it analyzes every yard it goes by garbage trucks only truck that goes in every neighborhood in every house And it analyzes it will tell us if their roof's in repair bit basically videotapes that grass is not cut so far So it gives us technology that we can enhance our code enforcement And then start looking after those habitual offenders and how do we deal with that to improve the whole quality of the neighborhood And making sure that everybody's doing their part being part of that puzzle Jack s ask about are there any incentives in the office pushing to attract individual and court of investment? absolutely we're sharing with everybody the opportunities from What's available through the state which is everything from abandoned building taxes to even cutting our tax ultimately You know for attraction it is quality of life is part of it But the incentives that go with it, but we have to have that incentive. It's got to be balanced Because the one thing right now the way the system set up is that if you're a big company you get the better in the deal Well, we're made up of a lot of small businesses So our ultimate goal is to modernize the tax system and use it to our advantage so that we can support our small businesses Just like we do our big businesses Because small businesses grow they become medium businesses But the whole time they're here. They're not looking for incentives back and forth They're hiring people and they're investing here and they become part of our community. So we got to have a balanced approach But when we're going to sell people and we talk about it, it's the opportunities. They're here too It's not just about tax incentives. It's about the opportunity about being a market that people support you That you have We're not tapped out yet. All at all We have so much room to grow and so much opportunity For people to invest I mean the two biggest corners in our community That could be great corporate towers or parking lots On assembly in drivet street. Think about it. That was two towers filled with 500 people going to work Living two blocks away and going down to the river to the beer killer and having the beer in the afternoon right before they go Float That's what people want to see The greatest investment we had on main street was student housing Why because students began walking up and down main street. It created life. Look at it now We got successful restaurants from one end to the other and more investment having more people living down there People want to see activity. They want to see so when we incentivize we're selling them about the quality of life as well Not just the tax credits Um That's that's that's our our it's a lot of information. I know um I'm glad to hang around and answer any Pointed questions. I know some people need to to get on Their night, but I'm glad to hang around if you have anything that that you want to leave on a comment card We have that I'm glad to answer that and send it back in writing that I'll be here to answer Any questions afterwards? I appreciate y'all coming. We're trying something different We'll see what the feedback is But we thought maybe it'd be better to come to you instead of coming to a state of the city that Is really not talking directly to y'all and with y'all and engaging with y'all So I hope it was worth your hour and 34 minutes you just spent with me But I'm excited about columbia. I continue to wake up every day And very proud to be the mayor. Uh, I get energized Every day about selling columbia I'm getting I might be a little obnoxious about it sometimes as I'm around the country But I just think it's time for us. I think it's time for us To be in the lead. I think it's time for us to shine I think we have too much to sell too many people too much Diversity too much culture National community. I mean we have so much that when you tell people about columbia When I stood up at the harvard bloomberg program and and I gave my description of columbia people like columbia south carolina Why don't you tell anybody I said, well, I'm telling you now and you I'm going to be telling you for the next four years at least So I hope you'll join me in continuing to push our community We're getting there. We're not perfect. We haven't completed everything. We're learning. We're improving But I hope you'll get on the on the train with us as we continue to move our city forward. Thank you for being here


Look, I know with a title like this I might as well have a fishing boat stockpiled with bait, but hey, my name is literally Skipper, so give me a pass. This video might as well be one of those generic movie scenes where the protagonist stands as he watches millions of arrows hit his shield. But to handle this wildfire, let me explain myself. Halo Infinite is fun. It's new and has a mix of nostalgia and evolution that makes it a beautiful hurricane I would love to skull in a Saturday evening. And I can't deny that I completely understand why people are praising it, especially when you have buggy uninspired messes to compare it with like the new Battlefield and Call of Duty as of recent. But like the title says, I don't like Halo Infinite. I like shooting and stuff, that's fun, the thumbs up for that, but I don't like everything else that surrounds this fun piece of potential. It irks me that I have to make this video due to my love for Halo, but it's becoming a normal trend for AAA studios to release content half-baked. And they always find justification due to the game being free to play or having all future downloadable content also be free. And while you could judge 343's intentions like a certain group of people going into a cathedral, you should also remember the Jesus Christ of modern video games, Cliff Wozinski, the creator of Lawbreakers, who died for the sins of all publishers and was made an example on how old gaming principles will buy you a one-way ticket 6 feet under. And since then, you had a dev team that made one of the best movement shooters of all time show how adapting to new principles doesn't just save your company, but can also make you insanely rich. While some of you might be hermits stuck in the old ways of Velcro sneakers and PES dispensers, I understand where 343 is coming from. The game being on game pass is going to hurt sales no matter what. And competing with giants in the $60 paywall doesn't give you much benefit when compared to free to play microtransaction models. And I bet 343 is laughing their way to the bank right now with how successful their launch was. But just because I understand where they're coming from doesn't mean I need to enjoy some of the silly decisions they've made. Ooh, yay, Shubu complains again, he must love his life. Let's quickly address that this game is a beta, I think. So this is a preseason before the game's official launch, but it's not going anywhere. Meaning that it won't disappear after four days like the flights. But 343 also stated that this beta has all of the game's day one content. And that content is 10 multiplayer maps, quick play arena, big team battle, and ranked arena. You have three big maps and seven arena maps. And the game modes for arena consist of Slayer, Capture the Flag, Oddball, and Strongholds. And for big team battle, you have Slayer, Total Control, Capture the Flag, and Stockpile. I know some of you are first time players of this franchise, but for Halo standards, this game is so drying content you would have thought it was Australia. Worst swat, King of the Hill, Crazy King, Assault, One Bomb, Infection, Snipers, Juggernaut, VIP, or any of the content you could find in just about every Halo game in the Master Chief Collection. This isn't as ridiculous as Halo 5's launch, which didn't even have big team battle, but this game still lacks pivotal content in comparison to Halo 3, Reach, and 4. Also take in mind that this game was delayed a whole year. Halo 3 at launch came with most of these game modes, and I feared that these future game modes are going to be wrapped in a roadmap like they were with Halo 5. But now instead of including game modes with DLC to keep a player base, it's going to instead be to sell a battle pass.    And if you don't like some of these game modes, that's too bad.  Because those definitely aren't sweaty game types that I want to play when I'm intoxicated on a Saturday night after work. These playlists are restrictive and make no sense to me. Halo Infinite is definitely not struggling in regards to player base due to a breaking steam record for Microsoft, while also being free to play. But also take in mind that this game is new and most players are still fresh learning the game mechanics and maps. But once everyone is acclimated, the game restriction is going to start taking a toll on players. It's already starting with the friends I play with. They log on and play Capture the Flag, but it might as well be Slayer.  And while it's annoying and has me sympathizing with Michael Jordan due to how much my back has been hurting, I can't blame them. Capture the Flag is exhausting. Especially with how sweaty Halo players can be, it's also fun to just play Slayer with no obligations. Make the game types individual and have the playlist give more XP or something if you want to have players be incentivized to use it. End the ranked mode. So far it's been a joke for me. Halo Infinite has a problem where it crashes constantly. Look, games struggle and so do people's PCs. I get that. That's why games like CSGO, Valorant, and Overwatch let you be able to reconnect back to a match after you disconnect. Just in case you crashed or didn't mean to leave intentionally. But Halo Infinite doesn't let you reconnect when crashing. Remember in Halo 5 where you had ranks for each individual game mode? Well, not anymore. Now you just have a rank for a whole playlist where you once again are forced to play game modes you might not want to play at all. So you could be playing competitive Slayer to then be playing Capture the Flag. Two different game modes in the same playlist for a rank.  But now we have to address the elephant in the room. Halo Infinite's battle pass and microtransaction system is disappointing, embarrassing, and predatory. It's a free-to-play game so cosmetics are guaranteed, but 343 had the audacity to make a half-baked progression system and put it up for purchase.  It's incredibly barebones. You can only choose one color for your Spartan, and you no longer have the ability to mix and match like you could in Halo Reach. Male and female genders are now replaced with three body types that are incredibly similar. Removing the option for those players who want a feminine looking Spartan like they did in Halo 5 in Reach. I understand the reasoning for removing the gender, but it doesn't excuse this poorly executed replacement. You also can't even make your own nameplate anymore. You have to use these pre-made ones that rank in rarity and that can be purchased in the store or unlocked with a battle pass. The base helmets and chest plates are bland and there's only three of them that you can unlock for free, and it's still through the battle pass progression system. It's clear that they made this game dry intentionally so players could buy the battle pass to have a real sense of progression due to it adding way more customization options.   To get any of the vanilla paid customization, you have to rank up and unlock it in the battle pass, where you can only gain XP through challenges.    Even if you didn't pay for the battle pass, this is still stupid. It actually makes no sense. In Halo the Master Chief Collection, you could do challenges to progress massively in the battle pass, but you could still rank up through match XP if you wanted to continue your grind after all those challenges or if you just did not want to do those challenges at all.  This is a grind.  There's no incentive to push forward at the moment because of how slow progressing is. So I have to deal with this bad customization because I can't unlock the good ones I'm paying for.  That should be in the base game, might I add. And while the battle pass isn't on a timer and doesn't run out, there's no excuse.  In the Master Chief Collection, you got battle pass points when you leveled up that will let you purchase whatever piece of customization you want on that certain page. And the catch was that you had to get everything in that page to progress to the next one.    And given how bad this system is, I'm not going to give 343 the benefit of the doubt. I think this is intentional. They clearly want people to spend money since it's a free to play game.    It's not even a nostalgia character like the noble team.   To have a maroon Spartan is $5.   This is supposed to be the comeback from Halo 5 and the Wreck system.   Why isn't it in the vanilla game? You have three vanilla helmets to unlock. This game has launched in a horrible state.  This game is disappointing, especially because of what it was supposed to stand for. Delayed a whole year of supposed comeback and return to roots.  I rather just pay $60 and get a good game than get a ghost of a shell where all the components are scattered and hidden behind paywalls. The game is really fun as well. It's so fun to play. But look at Halo 3 in reach.  And seeing Halo do it is just horrible and sad. The good thing though is that Halo Infinite's gameplay isn't bad. Just everything around it is and like Battlefront 2 it can change over time with enough community outcry.  This isn't good and it's not going to be healthy for the game. They have dropped the ball and need to be called out on this. But I do question, what was this game going to look like if it released in 2020? Because right now it's horrible. With that I'm Dr. Skipper.  Help a man out. I'm going to get stoned for this hot take but I'll see you soon. Bye.


How do we increase our relationship with the Holy Qur'an? As the month of Ramadan is upon us soon, we always look at opportunities to increase our relationship with the Qur'an in an efficient manner. Now, many often times people end up attempting or making the intention to recite the entire Qur'an within the 30 holy days. Now, this is a good initiative but there are a few steps we have to take in mind. In the case that we haven't spent the rest of the year reciting the Qur'an and putting as much as effort, this could be an impossible task because, think of it, someone who trains in the Olympics, they don't get ready before the Olympics a month before or two months before, they spend basically their entire lives, the four years before the Olympics, every day and moment that they have practicing for this race. And when we take the time to recite the Qur'an during the month of Ramadan, when we haven't placed the emphasis or practice, let's say, spending half an hour during the day, half an hour during the week, it can mean an impossible task. And what often happens is we get burnt out and I speak this to myself first because I've often achieved the same result where I end up starting on a good roll, good note, and then let's say a 22nd day, 23rd day, it's no longer the same. Now, what I end up doing is, and maybe this could be a good idea for you guys, is that let's take one chapter of the Holy Qur'an and use that as a way to reflect upon it, as a way to embrace it instead of the all passages from the Holy Qur'an. The way I do this, I take a chapter, perhaps it's short enough where I can memorize it even better, and this chapter becomes my best friend during these 30 days. Now, I take a verse, let's say if it's however many verses it is, divided by the 30 days or 29 days, so you could spend maybe three verses a day, where you take the time to understand the definition of these verses, look at the tafsir of what these verses say, and make a note as to what these verses really mean, and they literally become your best friend where, for example, in the morning you spend some time with it in the afternoon and as well as the evening, because in my opinion, this can have a much more impact on our souls and ourselves because we're really taking the time to understand what these verses mean compared to spending 30 days reciting the entire Qur'an and maybe not spending as much as time to do tafakkur and tadabbur of the Qur'an. And while it's a great achievement to recite the Qur'an as much as we can during this time, it's also important to take the time to understand what the Qur'an is telling us. So another thing, I have this assignment where I spend, let's say, in the past, I have done surah hujarat, it's a short surah, but there's so many akhlaqi moral lessons one could derive from this chapter. And at the same time, I'll go to the center at night where they recite the Qur'an, spend some time and recite two or three pages and get the barakah and get the blessings from that deed. But again, it's not simply about collecting as much as deeds we can as during this time, but rather making sure that when the month of Ramadan is over with, there's lessons we have learned and there's something we can go and reference back where, let's say, a few months passed after shah Ramadan, we could remember, oh, I spent time learning this chapter and all the lessons which I wrote down, all the things which were important to me, it's become a placeholder in my life where I can successfully say this chapter has shaped the way I live my life or has taught me something new so when the situation comes up, I can remember what the verse says and has a great impact on my life.