Utica, New York Common Council Meeting Records

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Common Council Meeting with Committee of the Whole Meeting June 17th, 2026

4 matches
2:25:43
We represent the tenants in Utica. We've heard from a lot of landlords here today, but Utica is a city with over 50% tenants and we're here to speak for them. What Good Cause does is simply say that if you follow your lease and follow the rules of the lease, you have a right to remain in your home. You do still have to follow the rules of your lease. Nobody is saying that you can do whatever you want and avoid being evicted. It actually allows for all of the situations that were just listed are still allowed for evictions in that case. We've spoken multiple times about the need for the addressing of the housing crisis, not just here in Utica, but across New York State and across the entire country. What we need to do is fix that. Saying good cause won't create more housing is like saying Medicare won't build more hospitals. We need one thing to fix the overall problems. There are multiple solutions to the problem, and we can be creative about how we do we've seen the evidence of Good Cause Working in multiple upstate cities across the state. We can give you all the data, and I will pass to other people to speak up more. Thank you.
2:06:31
—decided to head to Proctor Park to cool off in the water. When they arrived, they found a group of young people already there and noticed a girl in the water struggling. And whereas others watched, the two young men decided to help. They jumped in the water, pulled the girl to safety, and called 911. Their decision to act and bravery in the moment saved the young girl's life and set the standard for what it means to be a neighbor, for all, both young and old. And whereas the type of selflessness is what makes the community in the City of Utica so special and sets it apart from so many other places now, therefore be it proclaimed the Common Council of the City of Utica does hereby recognize and celebrate these two young men for their historic actions and thank them for the service they rendered to our community. Further proclaimed that this resolution inscribed upon the minutes of the Common Council of June 17th, 2026. [APPLAUSE] Yeah, I'm going to let them speak. Okay, you guys— you guys have—
2:25:24
Speak.

Common Council Meeting January 21st, 2026

3 matches
25:58
Yes, and I'm going to let Marcus talk to us. So this is basically just helping our Codes Department to give them some teeth on, uh, problems. So I've been having a lot of issues where people are calling me, uh, one specific area on Riverside Drive where, um, you know, a resident cut a bunch of trees down, has 7 or 8 big large trucks there. And, um, so I, I talked to Marcus every time they send people there, and it's not just this property, it's all over where people are bringing dump trucks home, um, taking— buying a bus. Um, we have a place on, uh, Lorain Ave where a person has a bus that they bought a bus and they're redoing it into a camper. Um, and when we send our codes there, there's nothing in codes. So I've gone to Marcus, uh, he's been extremely helpful. I'll let him— he helped me draw this up and I'll let him speak on this a little bit. And the only thing I do want to say about this, I'd like— we're in the next month or so, we're going to have a lot of stuff going on. To bring this out for a vote tonight, it has to be unanimous. I'd like to, you know, I'd like to get this done and pass it. It's, um, you know, I did my homework, I worked with the Codes Department, and it's something I think it benefits all the residents of the city. The one thing I want to say beforehand, if anybody's listening, you know, we have, we have a code that you have to have 4-foot fencing. There's a lot of people that will come in front of the zoning that they have a 6-foot fence, and if they have a reason, it gets sent that they can, you know, if it's proper, they can put the fence up. The same thing with this. If somebody has a food truck that's parked on the side of their house that is not being, you know, a deterrent to the neighborhood or making things bad, they are able to get a special permit to be able to do that. This is basically to stop, you know, what's going on in a lot of places— people running businesses out of their house with large vehicles. And guess what? All of you guys sitting around here, you all have people in your, in your districts doing the same thing. So I'll let Marcus speak on this, and I have another piece, um, after, um, kind of the same type thing, um, and I'll let him talk on that too.
38:27
Yes. Um, so this is kind of the same type, um, esthetics. Thank you. Just a different type deal. So same type. Uh, I know Councilman Betar has same problem. We've talked about it. This is basically for people who just fill their front yards with— I don't want to say garbage or debris. I'll give you an example. People have garage sale and they have a ton of stuff, and the stuff doesn't go away, and they just move it to their front yard. And it's, you know, I don't want to use the word garbage or trash, but it's just a nuisance to the neighbors who keep their properties in good order. And when we send codes there, I mean, I could send you— if we, uh, you know, if we do have to have a committee meeting, I will bring you pictures in. But, um, it's just, it's just something that it's very uncomfortable to the people who live around that, that have to see that. All the time. And again, I'll let Marques speak on that. And listen, the reason of these two pieces of ordinance, the reason I have them is when I call codes and they agree with me 100% when they go and see the issues, but they tell me there's nothing in the law that they can do to help out. So that's why I've got with Marques and, um, came up with something.

Common Council Meeting with Committee of the Whole Meeting February 4th, 2026

1 match
15:53
And I also just took, um, at a couple— just a couple locations, um, of pictures of what I was trying to explain. Uh, they're not the best pictures, but, um, I've talked to each one of you guys, or for the most part, and I believe all of you have the same issues in your district. I know last time when we brought this up they started talking about like tractor-trailer cabs and all that, and which, which would be a nuisance to if somebody was there next door to them. But I wasn't, um, that's not what I was talking about. That's not where my complaints have been. My complaints have been mostly, you can see by the pictures, where you have people operating businesses out of their house, where they have multiple trailers, multiple you know, pay loaders, plows. The one place in North Utica, they actually were next to the woods, and nobody really knows who owned the property. They took it upon themselves to cut trees down and move all the property and move the vehicles over there. And I've had multiple complaints. I talked to Marcus. When codes would go there, they would come back and tell me— Marcus would come back and tell me that there's really nothing that they can do about it. I know like last year on Lorraine Ave, we had a guy bought a bus and it sat there for, I'm pretty sure it's gone now, sat there for almost a year while he was remodeling it. Just stuff like that. I know I talked to you, Joe, you have the same issue. Talked to Bob, you had the issue. So it's just something, and we're not here, Marcus will speak of it too, we're not really here to go— for these codes guys to go out and look for all problems. It's more or less the people that are nuisance when there's a problem, they have something to help us out with. So that's what I'm trying to do. So, Marques, you want to talk on it?