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8 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Ms. Nancy Carpenter, 727 Denali Way, said she supports the human r ights commission <br />with enforcement. <br /> <br />Mr. Walt Heine cke, 1520 Amherst St., thanked Council for taking the necessary risks. PHA <br />does great things, but they are not an enforcement agency. Implementation will be important, <br />and he urged Council to think about t he funding. <br /> <br />Mr. Brandon Collins, 418 Fairway Ave., said PHAR supports a commission with local <br />enforcement powers, as well as the new additions from the Legal Aid Justice Center. <br /> <br />Mr. Jim Shea, Montevista Ave., said he supports Mr. Collins, Mr. Gulotta, an d Mr. <br />Heinecke . Council should g ive the commission the discretion to be effective in its enforcement. <br />You are close to doing something really big and good for our City for years to come. <br /> <br />Having no further speakers, the public hearing was closed. <br /> <br />Ms. Smith said the arm of the commission that deals with illegal discrimination does abide <br />by state and federal law. Ms. Szakos said w e are not adding another class, simply interpreting the <br />aspect of the state law that protects sex. I t is untested, but sh e said she was comfortable with <br />keeping it in the ordinance . <br /> <br />Ms. Galvin said the Human Rights Task Force did not produce a document that gave us the <br />data we needed to t ake the steps we are taking tonight. We do not know the extent of th is issue. <br />The very things we need to do first and foremost will be sacrificed if we spend $197,000 on a <br />commission prematurely. The focus should be on developing mutual understanding and <br />partnership, not tracking down violators and prosecution. She asked Council to develop a <br />Charlottesville Economic Opportunity Plan to facilitate success in our community. <br /> <br />Mr. Norris said he has supported a commission from the beginning, particularly focusing <br />on invisible, systemic racism. He supports enforcement, but he does think using exi sting <br />resources could take the form of a community -based process that is not located in City Hall. He <br />said it is important for the City to include sexual orientation, and it is not illegal for us to do so <br />because we do not levy fines or enact punishment. He agreed with Mr. Gulotta that we should <br />give staff some discretion with how to proceed with a given case. <br /> <br />Mr. Huja said there is a problem with discrimination , even though there is no quantifiable <br />data. He supports a human rights commission but cannot support it in the current form. <br /> <br />Ms. Smith asked to reorder the three arms of the commission to be sequenti al with the <br />enforcement piece (e ngagement, s ystemic, l egal ). <br /> <br />Ms. Smith said section 2 -437 (a) is misleading because it suggests the director will d o this <br />for every case. Ms. Szakos suggested the sentence could move down to (c). <br /> <br />Ms. Smith recommended adding the phrase “within the corporate limits of the City” to <br />section 2 -437 (c), because that i s all we have jurisdiction over.