Utica, New York Common Council Meeting Records

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

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

34 matches · 12 unidentified
1:31:21
Yeah, I just want to clarify something, okay, that I was— I want to clarify that I have no gripes about raising a flag, okay, that I was told that I didn't want to raise a flag. What I have the problem with is following what is written. When the old legislation said you have to put something down 3 weeks in advance, we got all this stuff comes the day of everything. I just want it to be right. And just remember here, when we approve this, I don't have no problem with it, but there's going to be a time coming when all of us don't agree on something and we don't pass it, and we're all going to be open for a lawsuit. So just remember that. All I want to do is say that on the record. So I have no problem. June 9th— Juneteenth is a federal holiday. Why would you have a problem, Hank, putting that flag up? Okay, but there's going to be flags that we will have problems with, and once you say no, you're going to have an issue.
57:46
I've got a point of order because I've got a serious question that actually relates to the Common Council in regards to legislation tonight. So Miss Aiello sent us a proclamation in regards to Juneteenth. Okay, no problem with that because usually you do proclamations all the time, no problem. She said, hi everyone, attached is a proclamation honoring Utica's role and significance in Juneteenth to be introduced and voted on tonight. Please let me know who would like to have their names added as a sponsor, as a sponsor, and we'll get this ready for tonight's meeting. So I responded to her, I said, dear Councilmembers, I have a genuine question. I promise it is not intended to be sarcastically. Do proclamations simply serve to recognize a month or cause, or does supporting a proclamation also imply support for a related flag raising? I ask because in the past the Pride Month proclamation and flag raising seemed to coincide. And I'm not— and I'm trying to better understand the distinction. If a councilmember supports proclamation recognizing a particular month or group, does that necessarily mean that they also support raising the associated flag, or are those considered separate actions? Thank you for clarifying this for me. And Miss Aiello responded, any and all ordinances, resolutions, or proclamations are deemed city expressions. People and organizations can fill out an application for a flag-raising ceremony for any number of city expressions. Now here's the thing, I mean, you're also now tying this to the flag because again, in that ordinance, it states that you have to have a resolution that supports that in order to have that raised.
1:21:05
Um, no, I think we went through this before and we talked about, um, getting it cleaned up a little bit before, um, this happens. And I know it's going to be a while before they get it, if they get it. Because right now we do have a— and the problem is lessening with the— they're not homeless people, they're just people that hang out in the park. And from what I understand, they've been cleaning the park, the residents that are in there. And DPW has been coming through on a pretty regular basis to clean it up. So I don't have a problem with it.
Unidentified speaker 2:28:49
Sparkle Anthony. Greetings, everyone. It's been a while. It doesn't matter if it's a paid lawyer or an attorney. It matters if the person has integrity. And the laws, that matters. How about the community and neighborhood? That still matters, I hope, in the course of humanity, for humanity's sake. How about clearly seeing that there's something rooted with the person. I'm sorry these landlords have to go through this. Y'all are good landlords. No, you know, it's not y'all, right? It's the ones who, you know, evict people when the repair needs to be done or there's something like lead, and instead of fixing the problem, you evict the person and then, you know, it's not for the people who are here, the landlords here, right? So let me stick to the script. People with law and justice for everyone. So with the state of everything going on, how about providing resources? The Community Foundation is rich with resources in this community. How about kindness? It goes further than fear. Or finances. You know, how about working together? You know, it's unfortunate what happened to some of these landlords, but sometimes we have to put ourselves in someone else's shoes. There's a bigger picture in this world. If we open our eyes. If a repair needs to be made, some landlords dodge the responsibilities and put a new tenant instead of fixing the root of the issue. So good landlords, don't be afraid, don't feel like we're attacking you. It's just that if you feel you're a good landlord, hold everybody accountable. Put everybody on the same level. You shouldn't have a problem with saying yes to Good Corps, so that means you're holding yourself accountable along with your fellow landlords because we all have to live in this world together. There's no getting around that. So, and for humanity, open our eyes, think bigger, work together. There's a solution. Just tap into the Community Foundation, which is a wonderful organization here. Thank you.
9:19
3, okay. Obviously we have a hard enough time getting trees down that need to come down. So they would not be able to do this. This would be something where, um, a tree would be deemed dangerous and the person's house, the person who owns the tree, um, would respon— be responsible to take it down. If they did not take it down, we would hire an outside person and they would be billed for it. The problem right off the bat is in Rome, I think they have 120,000 put into their budget for this type thing. Am I correct, Marcus?