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Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=TCN0n2SILdU

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All right. Good evening everyone. Thank you. Um on behalf of the um business administrator, I'm Maria Richardson. I'm Dr. Diego Minapelli, Department of Health and Human Services. I'm opening up for the city stat meeting

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today, July 15th, uh 2026 at 5:00 pm. I'd like to welcome everyone to the city stat of uh city of Trenton citystep initiative. Uh citystat it is a performance performance-based program that helps improve government accountability, efficiency and the

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delivery of public services through uh regular meetings and the use of performance data. We work together to identify challenges, find solutions and ensure that we are providing the best possible services to our residents. We also value community participation. Your

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feedback help us better understand the needs of our neighborhoods and improve what we how we serve the public. Today's meeting is available through Zoom uh for viewing. However, only those attending in person will be able to speak during the public comment portion. Thank you

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for being here and for your commitment to helping make Trenton a better place for everyone. So right now we're going to move into um the fire fire department presentation regarding lithium batteries. Um I just

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want to know the uh director is here. Fire director It's not open. Okay, here we go. Take my shoes off. Good evening everyone. Glad to be here in this um first part of the summer. My

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name is Kenneth Douglas and director of the Trenton Department of Fire Emergency Services. And um we have a presentation today related to lithium batteries. Um where's the clicker at? push button.

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>> Thank you. Um so I've given this presentation before but um it's more important to give it as many times as possible. The reason being because of the fact that right now our lives are consumed with lithium

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batteries. um from the cell phones you have to some of the televisions, some of your working equipment, your power tools in your house and so forth and so on. Um and also the most important um lithium battery that's a safety

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mechanism in your house is your smoke detectors. A lot of people don't know that used to be the 9vt batteries, but right now all of them ran by lithium if you did change them in the years to come. But why this important? Why is this presentation matters? because of the threat is real. Um, in the last

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maybe 10 years, lithium batteries, there's been a lot of fires with lithium batteries. U, one thing that happened in the city of Tinton just recently in the wintertime, we did have a resident that actually um, her and her husband almost lost their lives due to a failure with a

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lithium battery. Um, this is due to a snowblower that the lithium battery actually was overheated and actually put it in their garage. Next thing you know, it caught fire and they almost didn't get out. almost losing their lives. Um, but our goal today is to understand lithium batteries, um, how they work,

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recognize the warning signs, learn how to prevent fires with lithium batteries, and know the correct response when lithium battery fires occur. So, what is a lithium battery? Um, the old technology goes back to solar power. Um, everybody knows the little

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calculators we had in school. I might be dating myself, put a little age on me because a lot of people don't understand solar power. you don't even understand lithium batteries, but still um that's kind of the first confined energy source that that actually hold the charge that

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you didn't need batteries for. Um so lithium battery is a rechargeable battery where lithium ions move between electrodes during charge and discharge. The fundamental components comprised of a cathode, anoid, electrolyte and separator. Um and it releases energy

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um through those sources. Oops. Four types of lithium batteries that we have and they're in all different types of devices. So, one we have the cylindrical cells. U most of these round type of batteries you'll see

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either in small devices or or any kind of portable devices, but more commonly the gray one you'll see more in the ebikes that's around town. Um the bigger ones they're in cell pouches, electronic devices and some of the bigger

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industrial types also. This okay common products with lithium batteries in them. This is where everybody should be aware of this. Um e-mobile devices um a lot of cars these days have lithium batteries in it. I remember looking at a report maybe some

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five or six years ago and I think the American manufacturer said a good 30 or 40% of their manufactured vehicles will be electric powered cars which actually consumes the lithium batteries. So you see more now with Lucid, uh GM, Ford have lithium batteries. Um of course

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Tesla and so forth and so on. And then even more than that, I mean, we have um I guess you can say those those cars that actually self-drive, I think they're lithium also. You know, electric car cuz nobody can actually fuel them up. So, they have to be controlled by

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electricity. So, we have a lot of those in town. And actually, if you see in Trenton, I know in other major towns, you probably see a lot of these ebikes and e scooters all around town. Uh, I'm sure the police director is probably pissed off right now because the fact that you probably see him scattered on certain corners and I'm sure that

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there's some people out there doing some things illegally on these scooters and in between alleys and so forth and so I can imagine the stories that your police department have, but they're all over the place right now and it's becoming common and this is the new means of transportation and I believe the state

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of New Jersey is coming with legislation soon as it relates to they're going to start making um people with ebikes actually get registr ations and get um license plates on. I think I read something about that a month or two ago. Is that right, Steve? Yep. July 1st. Yep. That's coming. So,

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there's too many out there. If you know anything about the old mopeds from years ago, they had to be licensed. So, these are no different. They just ran by electricity. So, some of the warning signs um of these batteries um and I experienced this myself and um in your cell phone if

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you fill your cell phone probably it's not it's you put in a charger and it actually holds the charge maybe for an hour or two and it's and you kind canly do that means your lithium battery in your cell phone is actually failing. Um, years ago, Verizon did have an issue

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with a a Galaxy Note 7 that actually that phone actually caught fire and blew up to a point the fact that they wasn't even selling it no more. They would they weren't even transporting on a plane and actually I had one of those phones had to turn into Verizon, get a new one. But the thing is that I think I did it twice

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and the third time they wouldn't take the phone back, you know. But they have improved on lithium battery technology then. But this is one of the main warning signs if your charge doesn't hold that battery perforated or it's in its part the fact that it's it's about

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to die and it's past it life expectancy. Now these are the signs the fact that the battery need to be replaced because if you have that issue it's nine times out of 10 after a while you continually try to force to charge it it's going to fail and probably cause a fire in your

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device. So some of the things just reading through the bullet points, swelling and bulging of the battery, unusual odors, discoloration, excessive heat during normal use, and of course if it heats up constantly over and over, get too hot on your phone or any kind of lithium device

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through charging, it's time to replace that. And unusual noises are hissing. That means something ruptured that's holding that battery that you need to get dispose of it right away. And I believe some of the big box stores have the proper means to dispose of these batteries opposed trying to throw it in

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the garbage cuz that actually can cause a fire in a garbage truck also. Okay, here we go. And just reiterating some of the things that I spoke about already. While lithium batteries catch fire, physical damage of course um thermal abuse, age and degragation,

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manufacturing defects, and I believe that's may have happened in the fire that happened in Tren that almost took one of the residents lives and overcharging. So some people want to make make sure their phone is charged all the time. So they continue to stay on the charge for maybe 24 hours, 36

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hours. they're on the phone all the time, whether you're talking just to maintain the charge. But actually doing more harm to your phone or even your lithium product, then you're doing good because it is a point that you have to give it a rest from the charging to get it off the electric component so it doesn't happen like that. It doesn't

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fail and eventually it can catch fire and just reiterate some things I spoke about earlier. uh 33% higher growing crisis for lithium batteries from 1992 to 2022 what this report says and if you see that the

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passenger EVs they're increasing when it comes down to what is being supplied with lithium batteries uh two wheelers uh commercial EVs ebuses um that's becoming more common as fossil fuels come more I guess you could say uh less

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used the lithium batteries will become more used and a lot of We're changing even with public transportation. They're changing lithium batteries, consumer electronics, stationary storage, and two and three wheelers. Um, everything's changing. Everything's changing.

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And the data doesn't lie. 2018 as things as far as rise 2018 2019 as it starts to get higher all the way to 2023 and reported incidents in the US. Now, this number may not seem like a lot, but if you look at the entire country, it's a

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growing trend right now with lithium battery fires or or failures or even the batteries that actually harm people. And just be aware of what we're facing as a country and as a community. So, some of the preventive measures of

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preventing lithium battery fires, just charge it safely. if don't overcharge. Take it off the charger, give it time to rest and use the charge itself. Don't constantly stay and keep it on the charger. Store it properly. Um, buy certified products. You have a lot of dollar stores in some of these other

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stores, discount stores that do have lithium battery products and so forth and so on. But some of these things are from made from overseas. They may not be ulr rated or they may not go through the test. And some of these things actually fail. They fail more than the things that probably is ulrated because they're

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they're just made quick and just for the quick sale. They probably cost a 50 cent to make overseas and come over here and sell it for whatever it is. You think you have a good product, but you really don't and after a couple months it fails. Just like if you buy a iPhone charger or any kind of charger from a dollar store, it's only going to last

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but so long and next thing you know you have to replace it. So consider that type of charging or that type of device or product in versus a lithium battery. And to put in the same context that you want to buy the more quality products.

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It'll save your life. And what would you do if a fire starts? Of course, you want to alert and call 911. Evacuate the location. Um contain if it's possible. Um we all should have fire extinguishers in the house. Um, I

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should see everybody hands raised. If you don't, you know, uh, shame on you. Um, but of course you have smoke detections in the house. Um, close the doors. If you can't put the fire out, uh, get out, stay out, of course, and report and report it. Um, tell the fire

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crew the battery the battery actually caught fire. So, one thing that we need when we get on the scene is the fact that what actually happened. Um, sometimes you run in, depends how big or bad the fire is. It may be just a room. It could be your dresser or whatever. If it's just a battery fire or something,

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you want to get to it as fast as possible so it doesn't spread. Um, but if it's something else, of course, report it to us when we get on the scene. Either us, police department or fire department, whoever gets there first. In prevention and community engagement, um, proactive measures, implement safe

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strategies, public education is the reason why I'm here today to inform you about lithium batteries. um partnerships, collaboration, public safety. We are your friend. So, please tell us if you have any questions, any safety questions about lithium batteries or any other emergency that may happen in your house. Um building codes and

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regulations where you live at, there still dictates what you can actually have in your home or apartment. And early detection. Um when it comes down to those warning signs related to lithium battery failures, just be cognizant of that is the fact that to prevent fires in your home and protect

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your loved ones. I think that's it. I have some questions. This actually a part of a bigger PowerPoint that I usually ask trivia questions. Um but you know, this is not that forum, but um that's my presentation. Thank you. And I'll be here to answer any questions afterwards.

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Thank you. Thank you, Director Douglas, for that presentation. Uh, the next part of the uh meeting tonight is will be uh the police department um presenting the status report by director uh Wilson.

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Good afternoon everyone. Okay, let's get right to it. U, these are uh stats so far year to date in the city of Trenton. Our homicides are down by 73% compared to the same time period last year. Our sexual assaults are down

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by 13%. Our robberies are down by 45%. Our aggravated assaults are down by 7.4%. Our burglaries are down by one. Our thefts are down by 14%. Our autothefts have creeped up into the

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positive and they're up by 1.4%, but overall we're down by 12%. Um, so I'll come in on the autothefts. Uh, we still have a lot of folks that are cooling off their cars and leaving them running with the keys in them and

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random people are jumping into the cars. And I know it's hot. Um, and it's not comfortable to get into a hot car, but get into a hot car and then cool it off as you go. Don't leave it running. And the same thing in reverse in the winter time. Um, people like to warm their cars

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up and they leave them running and and someone with the um nasty thoughts will just jump in and drive away. We also uh have seen an increase in attempts on Hyundai's and KAS. again. Um

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there there was a software fix that both of those companies put out. Um we handed out a lot of wheel locks for people who who uh want to protect their vehicles. But there has been a recent uptick. Um I think I think that video that showed

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folks the the kids how to steal the cars by use of a thumb drive went back out uh viral again on YouTube. So I think that's why there is an increase in attempts on those vehicles. Um, here we have our firearms recovery year to date. Um, and we're down by 5%,

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but we still took a significant amount of guns off the street, 132. Next slide is our calls for service by district. Um, the north um has the most calls for service. Um

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we we actually did a a analysis on the north and police headquarters is centered in in the north ward and we get a lot of uh calls at the desk there. So that that's why we see it. Um that's why we believe that there's a the north is

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always highest. Um and sometimes people surrender, they have warrants or something like that, they surrender at headquarters. So even though that's not a call for service out in the street, it does count for a call for service because we generate a service number for that. So that may be the account for why

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north calls in the north are higher than the other three wards. Um arrest per district, the north w again is the highest. We've been concentrating in the area of uh Donley Homes um because of issues that arise there

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all the time and I can tell you that we have significant arrests there and uh a number of guns we've taken out of that um project. Um this is our our clearance rates year to date. Um, overall there's a 33%

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clearance rates, but for homicides it's 66%. And um, I'm told that hopefully soon that will be 100%. We've only had three homicides this year. Um, and we're already into uh, July. Um, our robbery unit clearance rate is

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54%. Our shooting response clearance rate um is 100% for uh non- hits and 66% for hits. Their assault unit clearance rates are 82%. And our arson clearance rate is 60%.

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Um just a little bit we just created with the the fire director. he and I partnered. We now the city now has a operational um arson task force between uh my arson investigators and uh director Douglas's firemen.

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This is uh community affairs. We are in the middle. Uh oh. Okay. So, while we're uh rebooting my presentation, we're in the middle of our summer camp. Uh we serviced 33 kids last

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last week. This week we have 30. We are still taking applications for weeks three, four, and five. So, if you know someone um please uh email www. communityfairs police.net net and uh or

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you can call 609 9893918 is the number to community affairs. >> Okay. So, um what we're not seeing here are the last two pages and that's our contact numbers. The uh presentation will be put on our website. Um, but if

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you have tips that you would like the Trent Police Department to have, you can text TPD tips to 274-637 or you can email tips to tpdtips at Trenton police.net.

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Um, also one of our partners is um the Trenton Community Street Teams and you can contact them, email them at www, you see their website rather, www.trenton community street teams.org and also our

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partners with our opioid response team uh recovery advocates and uh they are recovery advocates.org report and any other information you can you can also visit our website at www.trenton police.com.

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>> Can I take one? All right. And if you want to scan uh to get access to our social media and to the city's website, you can scan the last page. You want me anybody wants keep it up take pictures? I'll keep it up there for a minute.

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And again, here's our emergency contact numbers uh for our dispatch. Non-emergency is 9894000 or 989-4170. Our detention facility is 9893940.

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For the criminal investigation bureau, that's the detectives 989-4155. Our internal affairs bureau is 9894100. Our patrol front desk is 9893905 and our record section is 989-4185.

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And that concludes presentation for the Trenton Police Department. And I'll take questions anybody afterwards. Thank you, Director Wilson, for that presentation. Um, next phase will be uh a public

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comment. Um, for the public comment portion, residents have uh uh two minutes to provide their comment, their um uh complaint. Um you have some of the directors here. Um Director Waya from the public works. Uh um Sean Temple from

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uh water department, director Wilson from the police, myself, director Mina Capelli from the um department of health and uh director Douglas from the fire department. Um keep in mind that after your comment, your complaint, you will have um sorry I

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forgot HD director uh Vasquez. Um, keep in mind that after your comment, um, us as a directors will reach out to you within 48 hours. Uh, but keep in mind that some of the complaints or, uh, the things that you want us to fix will not be able to be

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fixed within 48 hours, but at least we will give you a plan of action. Um, so I have, uh, the first resident, uh, Miss Caitlyn Fair. Good evening. My name is Caitlyn Fair. Um I live on South Clinton Avenue. Um

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I'm here specifically part or primarily to talk about an issue that we're having with a property on the Greenwood Avenue extension. So the culdeac that's behind um our row of houses. It's located at 359 Greenwood Avenue. Um, it's a property that's owned by Ajax Management

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and it has been vacant for as long as I have lived here in the city, which is a really long time. Um, at the I will 20 plus years. Um, and I don't think it's been owned by them for that long, but in all the time that I've been on this

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block, they have owned it. Um the issue, one of the issues that we're having is that the roof of this property is completely like rolled off. Basically, it's a piece of metal. It looks like that was underneath of whatever roofing material used to be there and it's hanging on basically by a thread. Um and

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it's a big safety hazard. Um particularly after seeing what happened in Philly the last um last week with the huge windstorms where roofs were blowing off of buildings onto people's cars, onto people's houses. Um, this is something that we've reached out to multiple people within the

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administration and city departments about. Um, my understanding is that the property owner has been contacted and made aware of the issue, but the issue persists. Nothing has been secured on the property. Um, and it is a safety hazard to the adjacent properties um

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because that huge piece of metal could potentially blow into our backyards, injuring people, injuring pets. It could also potentially blow into the adjacent parking lot and do property damage to the cars that park there. Um, so we would really like to figure out how to

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motivate this property owner um to deal with this issue. It's a larger concern of mine because this is somebody who continues to be designated as a redeveloper of various different parts of the city while sitting on multiple properties that are vacant and unsecured, including another property on

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Greenwood Avenue. So, that's a larger issue. Um, but I would like somebody to deal with this particular house. >> Thank you, Miss Fair. Um, next president is Edwin Stubs. Um, good afternoon everyone. I'm also

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here for the 359 Greenwood Avenue um building that's going on right now after the last storm. Like Caitlyn just said, the roof is literally hanging off. Um I walk my dog through there all the time. I also park my car right next to that because that's my designated parking and

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parking on South Clinton is slim to none. So this is the only place I can park my car. So I'm literally just here to see like and I pay to park there as well. Yes. But yes, to this company. Um, so we're just trying to figure out like what we've made complaints before in the

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past and we're just trying to figure out like what the next steps are for this because like I said before after this last big storm we had that roof is uh she's about to come down and I'm really afraid of like what this is going to look like. We're also by a bunch of train tracks. So like god forbid that

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blows into the train tracks or something like that. That's be a major catastrophic event for all of us. So, just here to let y'all know what's going on and see like what issues or like what answers we can come to together and um yeah, thank you all for your time.

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Thank you, Mr. Sts. Um Kalia, is there any more? All right. So um the appropriate uh directors will contact you within the next 48 hours uh to talk to you regarding this. All

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right. Um this will conclude the uh the meeting for today, the citystaff meeting. The next meeting will be on August 19th at 10:00 a.m. here at city council chambers. I thank everyone for coming in today and have a good evening.