A bill for an ordinance approving the East Colfax Corridor Urban Redevelopment Plan and the creation of the East Colfax Corridor Urban Redevelopment Area. Approves the Urban Redevelopment Plan for the East Colfax Corridor Urban Redevelopment Area to reduce or eliminate blighted conditions as well as to stimulate growth and redevelopment in the East Colfax Corridor, generally bounded by Monaco Parkway on the west and Yosemite Street on the east in Council Districts 5 and 8. The Committee approved filing this item at its meeting on 7-30-19.
final consideration. Note items have been called out under pending. No items have been called out. Anything, Miss. All right. Madam Secretary, will you please put the first item on our screens? Councilman Barker, go ahead with your question or during questions and votes. Madam Secretary, do you want to put this on the floor before we do questions or you to do questions first? Oh, we go ahead and put it on the floor. Councilman, can we please put Council Bill 744 on the floor. Yes, I move that council bill seven 4419 does 744 be ordered published? It has been moved. If I get a second, it has been moved and seconded. Councilwoman Steed, welcome. You wanna go ahead with your question? It's actually just a statement at this point. A lot of people don't know how these processes work. And so my commitment to community is my word. My word is my bond and my votes are my word. So I want to make sure that even at this first reading, I go on record with my position on this plan . I want to read the ordinance request for those of you getting ready to dig into these proposals, I know this is only first reading but still want to make my concerns known and go on record as not supporting the request, said the general objectives of the East Colfax Corridor Urban Redevelopment Plan are to reduce or eliminate blighted conditions as well as to stimulate growth and redevelopment. The plan establishes the framework for Future City Council approval of public improvement projects and private redevelopment projects within the East Colfax Corridor, Urban Redevelopment Area and the use of tax increment financing for those approved projects post-World War Two. Federal urban renewal today is widely viewed as a failure, yet cities are repeating the mistake with tax increment financing. Tax increment financing is the new urban renewal. Our local urban renewal projects of the past were rooted in the idea that if you cleared out cities, bars, cheap hotels, homeless missions, you could attract a new wave of capital . The federal government was pretty much handing out money to cities that did this, and often they used the power of eminent domain to forcibly purchase land that would be cleared out and resold to private developers. These efforts resulted in the demolition of poor communities. Denver and other cities corrected the blight of poverty by eliminating the poor, driving them into other neighborhoods or public housing. These efforts were often referred to as slum clearance and were justified because it was alleged that substandard areas breed social and economic ills of the worst kind and that most of the displaced people are black, brown and poor people. The policies have generally favored large developers embodying crony capitalism. Urban renewal also imposed unwanted esthetic replacing humans. Neighborhoods with outsized structures. Even when these policies were determined failures and federal money waned. Urban renewal entities needed to find local funding sources. And the one that was most settled on was tax increment financing. This method allows local or state agencies to draw boundaries around an area for redevelopment. The agency's then sell bonds and use that money to create incentives, usually cash or free land for target businesses. Future sales or property tax revenue that comes from within the boundary is then used to pay the bonds. TIFF is now a go to funding source for stadiums, retail condos and other developments having become urban renewal as modern incarnation. TIFF still shares urban renewal problems, for example, by perpetuating crony capitalism. At first glance, its subsidies don't seem like handouts, since they supposedly pay for themselves through increased revenue from new projects. But it is unclear whether these revenues truly increase because of these projects or from inflation, and the money that pays for them would otherwise fund core services, causing misplaced priorities in many cities. TIFF also plays an unfortunate role as an enabler for eminent domain, which could otherwise be unaffordable for cities. I encourage you all to review the indicators of blight and recognize who is targeted and disadvantaged by these efforts that are top down rather than community driven need based formats for community development . For all of these reasons, I'm taking this opportunity on first reading to go on record as a no for this plan and will continue to vote no on final consideration. I encourage all of my colleagues, especially the new ones, to do your research and make sure that we're representing all of our constituents, including and especially those who will be victims to our ambitions. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilwoman Black. I remove my request to speak and get back on the list at the end. Okay. I'm sorry, Councilwoman Sawyer. Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to thank you, Councilwoman CdeBaca, for your for voicing your concerns. This is actually in District five, and I have to just step in. We can discuss this more next week, but I wanted to just make it very, very clear from from the outset that I have been a part of this process. I've been going to these meetings and participated in this for. A little over a. Year now. And I can't speak highly enough. Of the job. That Tracy has done with Sarah that the entire community has done to come together to ensure that some of the the problems that absolutely exist in urban redevelopment. These days. Are not happening on East Colfax. Everyone in our community recognizes that gentrification and displacement of communities. Of color. Are a major problem and that East. Colfax and this area is. Someplace that could be the next real. Area of a problem. And I just can't I can't say strongly enough how much that our community, how much the city is doing to make sure that that does not happen, how they recognize exactly what's going on, that they share that concern and that they're doing everything they can to get community involved to make sure that that does not happen. So I just wanted to really put that out there because I think it's very important to recognize that Councilwoman CdeBaca has concerns are valid, and historically speaking, they are 100% true. But in this case, I can't say enough about what has been done to try and stave off those kinds of concerns and that gentrification off of that . So we can discuss this more next week when it comes to in front of council. But I just wanted to put that out there right now. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Black, understand that we have a technical issue to correct. Yes. Thank you. There is a mistake in the bill. The title of the bill, it says it said in the tax increment area. But it's actually only setting the urban renewal boundaries. And I'm going to offer an amendment. But in the meantime, if anyone has any questions, I'm sure our dear director Tracy Huggins could answer them. All right, so you want me to come back when you're ready with the amendment to fix the title? I have got the amendment right here. All right. I do have Councilman Herndon in the cue in mind if we bounce to him and then we'll get make sure we do this right. All right. Councilman Herndon. Mr. President, I was just going to encourage my colleagues, since this is on first reading for publication, there will be a public hearing next week. We'll have the opportunity to go in depth about what the east area urban renewal area does and does not do. I think there is some misinformation, but I want to be respectful of people's times and hopefully we can have that conversation next Monday, and I would encourage my colleagues to support it. Thanks, Mr.. President. Thank you, Councilman Herndon. All right, Madam Secretary, how would you like us to proceed with this amendment? Do we just need to clarify for the record, or do we need to do an amendment to the bill? Okay. Go ahead with Councilwoman Councilwoman Black's amendment. Excellent. Thank you, Councilwoman Black. Thank you. I move to amend 19 dash 0744 as follows on page one, line seven strike and the Andrew Place with quotes, period, quote, end quote. And on page one, strike line eight. The purpose of this amendment is to remove the establishment of tax increment areas. The amendment does not require republication. All right. We have that amendment moved. Do we need a second or did we get a second for the amendment? It's been seconded. Councilman Flynn, and seconded the amendment. So any questions or comments on the amendment will vote on the amendment first and then tomorrow on the bill. Okay. I don't see anybody in the Q on this who will vote on the amendment. Madam Secretary, Roll Call. Black Eye. CdeBaca, i. Flynn, Art Gilmore, i. Herndon, I Hines Hi Cashman. I can h. I. Ortega Sandoval. I sawyer i torres i. Mr. President. I. I'm secretary please cause voting in US Results. 13 Eyes. 13 Eyes Bill 744 has been amended and now we're going to go ahead and vote on Council 744 as amended. Yep. Anything else you need from us before we vote on that? All right. And seeing nobody else do roll call, Madam Secretary. CDEBACA No black eye. Flynn All right. Gilmore I. Herndon, I. Hines Hi. Cashman I can each I. Ortega Sandoval. I. Sawyer, I. Torres. I. Mr. President. Hi. I'm secretary. Please close the voting. Announce the results. 12 eyes, one name. 12 eyes, one nay accountable. 744 has been ordered published. All right, Madam Secretary, if you please put the next item on our screens. And, Councilwoman Canete, will you please vote? Council 745 on the floor.