Mary, could you state your name for the record, please?
Do we see Mary's hand?
Her hand is raised.
Yes, she's the level chair.
Hi, Mary.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Mary Jones, M-A-R-Y, on behalf of Council President Darrell Clark.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you, Ms. Jones.
What is your position with the Council President's office?
um uh my title is legislative council and um i serve as the council president's representative
and the in zoning matters okay and in the course of those duties with the council president's
office did you come to learn of the uh variance uh application for the property in question at
2352 North 29th Street? Yes, I did. Okay. And in the course of your
review of that matter, did you come to learn about whether the neighborhood was in opposition
to that or members of the neighborhood were in opposition to the variance?
Yes. Originally, we received a letter from the coordinating RCO, and then after the hearing, we received other petitions and letters expressing opposition, additional letters expressing opposition from the near neighbors.
Okay. And did you yourself look at some of that material?
I did.
Okay. If I could have the chair's permission to share my screen.
Most certainly.
All right. Let's see if I can do this without crashing everything.
Thank you. Can you all see that?
Yes. It's Exhibit C1.
So I'm just going to go through these real quickly.
I think the first Exhibit C1, I think we can stipulate that this is the refusal...
And Ms. Jones, are you familiar with this document?
And again, this is already in the record of the board,
but I'm just indicating that these materials are
familiar to the council president's office.
And can you just identify this particular document?
Let me try to get this so that it fits on the screen.
and do you recognize this document yes i do um that is the reconsideration request
drafted um with the council president's um permission on behalf of um the community
and the near neighbors after they reached out to our office okay and did you review this document
did i personally have you have you seen yes yes yes i've seen it yes okay and in your own words
could you just explain what uh the council presidents why the council president is is
opposed to the variance yes um the community has been very forceful in their position that this
that this type of use is just inappropriate. A nightclub use is inappropriate for this area,
just given criminal activity and other concerns that the community brought to us at that time
and has brought to us more recently and we we support the community in that in their position
that this would be would negatively impact that corner and not and and and you know in addition
to the fact that they don't have a um um hardship presented sure um and it goes without saying but
Just to confirm for the record that the location of 2352 North 29th Street is within the Council District 5 or the 5th Council District, which is the Council President's own district. Is that right?
Or the fifth council district. Okay. Which of, which is the council president's own district. Is that right?
Yes, it is.
Now, have you seen this document that I'm showing now? This would be for identification purposes, C3, I think. Yes.
Yes. I've seen that document as well.
okay and was this provided to the council's office uh was this before the hearing the
zoning board the last zoning board hearing um though it is dated in february i did not
i was not sent this and i could provide emails but i was not sent this document we were not
sent it until um after the community i mean excuse me after the uh zoning hearing on march 1st okay
and uh and i i will say so this was uh but this was received uh by the uh council president's
office at some point between then and now yes okay and you have reviewed this as well yes okay
and is it fair to say that the the letter uh also expresses in more detail some of the concerns that
the neighbors had about parking, noise, loitering, and other concerns?
Yes, that is, I'd say so.
And so this document having been sent to the council president, is it incorporated within
any of the regular routine records that the council president keeps with respect to various
matters?
like does he keep this in a would they this letter be kept in a file in the regular course of
business yes yes um in my position as his owning representative i uh would i do um save all
communication from the community um you know associated with whatever address be it for or
against okay um now as the council president's office is is also is the council president's
office also uh familiar with the kinds of problems that have been ongoing in this neighborhood
i would say yes okay to the extent that the the community has let us know okay
And again, some of those concerns involve loitering, people smoking, some of the problems.
Are there substance abuse issues in the neighborhood still?
I can't comment on that for sure.
I can't comment from our knowledge base that the community would have to be.
But this is just what was reported to us.
um now and again just for the board i don't know because i don't have uh the record of what was
produced to the zoning board before so to the extent that um you know so i apologize if the
board's already seen this letter but it was provided uh earlier either yesterday or today
and again we're presenting it now now one other thing i'm going to show you and i'll have a couple
other witnesses that will testify about more specifics about these documents but um do you
recognize this the next couple pages this this is c4 yes okay and if you just if you can read it you
might not be able to let me try to blow it up a little can you read what it says up in this
first section oh we the neighbors and community organizations oppose development
located at 2352 north 29th street okay there's one word that i couldn't see that's okay i think
it says project project oh development project yeah it's a little blurry um so this is a petition
of persons in opposition to the uh to to the proposal yes okay
and was this also received by the council president's office or that is do you now
have a copy of this yes that was all that was received with the previous letters okay
and have you seen this document marked city c5 yes okay and is this just a list of
specific concerns that the neighbors have regarding the proposed use?
Yes. This in particular was just, I believe, was a response to the...
believe was the response to the applicant presenting a petition of support and this
is just comparing the addresses and locations of the people who signed the petitions opposed and
support okay and would it be fair to characterize the document as indicating that
uh all of the petitioners who are who oppose the project live within 500 feet uh whereas
nearly 80 percent of those in favor of the project uh do not live uh with within that
do not live close to the property yes okay and again this is this document uh
I think which I'll just scroll through it.
This is just a real listing of the petitioners.
This is a copy.
I believe this was presented to the zoning board last time a copy of the petition
in favor of the variance request.
And so again, these documents were received by the council president's office.
Um, we didn't get the, um, the support or the non-opposition petition until after
the hearing. Okay. But they're now kept in the, uh, yeah, it's now filed away.
Yes. Okay. And that was just another copy of the refusal.
so now uh are you are you familiar with this last document yes this one we received today
okay and what does this document uh address um just generally addresses the um our constituents
concerns about a recent homicide that took place at a nearby convenience store, which
is a 24-hour, I guess, establishment that sells little cigarettes, potentially alcohol.
and it it it's clear that there's concerns that a you know a late operating event space and or
nightclub along with that kind of um store is just dangerous and is not um acceptable for the
community okay so and again that that particular document was also received uh by the council
president's office and is now kept in the regular order of business there yes okay and i think this
is the last okay are you are you yourself personally familiar with the location um i'm
i'm not okay i'll skip this last exhibit then for now i think that was the last let me just make sure
oh there uh i'll skip seven go to eight uh this is uh have you seen this before
um yeah the this was also forwarded today okay and this just concerns um
the yes you could explain what this is the constituent some who reached out to our office
near neighbors um just have concerns about um current construction with the um being unfinished
at the uh site and this is just they're listing their concerns okay all right um
so i don't have any further questions for uh ms jones although i would reserve a right to recall
or for rebuttal, if necessary, later.
And I would ask that these documents
be entered into the record
as documents that are kept in the regular order of business
of the government office of the council president.
I don't know if Mr. Anastasia has any questions.
Bernie, do you have any questions?
Just a couple on cross.
Proceed.
Ms. Jones, thanks for coming this evening. Were you aware of the hearing that was held in March
for this particular project? I was. Okay, so your office got full notice and opportunity
to present at that time, is that right? Our office, yes. You had the opportunity and the
notice. Is that right? Yes. And you failed to do so, right?
yes and and you and you failed to do so right no um at that time did you testify before
no we didn't fail to um test um fail to enter excuse me we didn't fail to participate
that was a choice on the part of the council president and again the the the um all of those
documents that he just pulled up, the opposition that came up after, because the constituents
thought their RCO letter was going to be enough. So it was not a failing.
My apologies for that phraseology. Your office, after full notice and opportunity,
decided not to weigh in on the project at that hearing in March. Is that right?
Yes, based on the information we had at that time.
You sat on your rights. Okay, good. The petition in opposition that Leonard proposed to the board today that you reviewed, the top of the document where folks signed, it says that they oppose the development project at the subject address, but it doesn't detail exactly what is being proposed. Is that right?
um yes does it say it's going to be an event space or even a night as you claim it's going
to be a nightclub does it say that does the petition say it right no no it doesn't it just
says we oppose the development at the subject property is that right yes without getting
involved into anything that we applied for. Right. The petition was prepared by the
constituents. Okay. Very good. Yeah. Thanks. I appreciate that. And the petitioner for the
reconsideration is Mr. Darrell Clark, who I believe is your employer. Is that right?
um the petitioner on behalf of the community and his constituents yes okay and where is he today
where he is at this moment that's right it's i mean he's the petition he asked for the
reconsideration hearing typically a uh the protestant would need to be present
specifically to to adopt testimony of his counsel where is he today uh objection he is where he is
we're not asking uh anyone to adopt testimony of counsel and again as we indicated previously
ms jones is not here as uh mr clark's counsel mr ms jones is here as mr clark's representative
of as part of her job mr clark she's just here as the city's witness she's here as a city's
witness as a member of the staff of mr clark mr clark petitioned this board as part of his job
as a council person i'm asking if he's not here then where is he if this is part of his employee
where is he so so i i don't know that that's that's relevant you we ask our we ask our
protestants to adopt testimony and though the board the zoning board here is gracious enough
to excuse it a court of common pleas won't be so i need to know well again listen where is the
Vern, we're going to go past that.
We're not going to get into that.
Fair enough.
Council right here represents the council president.
And, you know, on a regular basis, Mary Jones testifies for the council president.
Of course.
We're fine with this.
Very good.
I have no other questions for Ms. Jones.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Leonard, do you have other?
Just briefly.
Let me just pull up.
I would ask if there is a Mr. George Gordon present, and if he could be promoted.
You see Mr. Gordon?
Yes, I see he has a hand raised.
He's been allowed to speak, Chair.
Thank you.
Hi, Mr. Gordon, could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
Mr. Gordon?
You'll have to unmute yourself, sir.
It should be on the lower left side of the screen.
Mr. Gordon?
He's still muted, Chair.
Mr. Gordon?
Mr. Gordon, you have to unmute yourself.