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7 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Mr. Tony Russell said enforcement is the bottom line. Without enforcement power, people <br />will not take this seriously. <br /> <br />Mr. Scott Bandy, Cherry Ave., said he hopes thi s Council is prepared to take a straight up <br />and down vote after the second reading. <br /> <br />Ms. Pat Lloyd, Raymond Rd., requested that LGBT persons be included in the ordinance. <br />Human rights should be guaranteed to all people. <br /> <br />Ms. Jamie Morgan said the ordinan ce should say sexual identity instead of orientation, and <br />asked to add queer , trisexual and a -sexual to the list of protected people. <br /> <br />Having no further speakers, t he hearing was closed. <br /> <br />Mr. Norris gave several statistics that debunked Mr. Heyden's claim that crime was <br />committed more often by African Americans than Caucasians. <br /> <br />Ms. Szakos said the fact that people say we may not have discrimination, and that we <br />believe our opinions on this issue are facts, shows that we have not been talking to one another <br />enough. The Dia logue on Race (DOR) has stirred racial issues up and brought attention to them , <br />not that the issue s did not exist before. She said she hopes we are ready to deal with this . She <br />supported adding sexual orientation and identity as pr otected classes. This c ould be added under <br />Section 434 or added to the ordinance itself as a protected class. We do have the EEOC and <br />other organizations, but complaints ultimately get sent off somewhere else, and it is not as <br />effective as local enforcement. She shared a prayer about mutual respect. <br /> <br />Ms. Smith said we cover common themes. We have had a lot of input about enforcement. <br />No one can say there is not discrimination; now we have to figure out how to deal with it. We <br />need teeth to enfor ce against institutional racism and develop the tools to confront it. She said <br />she strongly supports including sexual orientation. She supports having a mechanism to locally <br />deal with this. Most conflict can be resolved by mediation, and we should get thro ugh at least <br />that part locally. Housing and employment are two big discrimination issues. Housing is handled <br />well by PHA, but employment still has serious barriers. She said socioeconomic status must also <br />be included. <br /> <br />Ms. Galvin said the big issue is th inking about the magnitude of this concern . It seems to <br />be focused on employment. She said research of other localities show that commissions address <br />a very low number of issues in reality . Focusing on discrimination as the sole obstacle to <br />employment wi ll detract resources from being able to address the real barriers, such as child care <br />and transportation. Bad governmental policies build in disincentives to get out of poverty. Lack <br />of jobs is a problem as well. She said she would support the present ord inance, when coupled <br />with on -site presence of the EEOC once a month. She asked to decouple the funding <br />conversation from a decision on the ordinance. <br />